


Tea & Lace

by yutorin



Series: Tea & Lace-verse [1]
Category: Hey! Say! JUMP, Johnny's Entertainment
Genre: Alternate Universe - Maid Cafe, Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Alternate Universe - Yakuza, Chef! Daiki, Crossdressing, Daiki is a chef, Despite what Yamada might think, Despite what everyone else thinks, Getting Together, Inoo is not a woman, Lots of secret identites, M/M, Neighbors, Not a genderbender, Originally Posted on LiveJournal, Roommates, Runaway, Shoon makes an appearance because I cannot help myself, TakaInooChii are a happy family, motorcycle, originally posted in 2014
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-07 18:38:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 35,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20821973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yutorin/pseuds/yutorin





	1. Chapter 1

Yamada sighed, adjusting his glasses on his nose. He took his red marker to the newspaper page, crossing out every place he had already tried, and then going back through and crossing out all girl-specific entries. He set his marker down, eyes wandering over the page. He couldn't believe it. Every single ad was marked out. He'd tried everything. He was just about to comb through them again, hoping he'd missed something, when the door to the apartment was pushed open, and Daiki stepped in, his bag slung over his shoulder and his classmate and tutor, Inoo-chan, behind him. Inoo was a girl in Daiki's Government class, and the only reason Yamada's roommate was passing. She came over all the time, and if Daiki wasn't so openly gay―often starting their many discussions about guys, such as the argument last week over which member of SMAP was hottest―Yamada would have thought his friend had a huge crush on her. She was pretty by society's standards, tall, with long wavy black hair, full pouty lips, and lush eyelashes, but she had this high, feathery voice that could get kind of annoying after a long time. Yamada leaned back in his chair, welcoming them in with a simple

"Hey Dai-chan. Hey Inoo." Daiki grinned, swinging his backpack into one of the vacant chairs surrounding their little kitchen table, asking

"So, how's the job hunt going?" His eyes caught on the marked up newspaper and he rounded their little circular four person table to get a good look at it, putting a hand on Yamada's shoulder and looking down at the page, cheek to cheek. He grinned, bemused at the hopeless look Yamada gave him, and he asked

"That bad?"

"Yeah."

"Hey, didn't you say your workplace was considering hiring, Inoo-chan?" Daiki asked his friend as he sashayed around the counter into the kitchen, getting himself and Inoo a plate of cookies. She nodded, and in that falsetto, feathery voice of hers said

"But...I don't think Yamada will want to work there. It's...a little bit girly for him." A spark of hope flitted in Yamada's stomach, and he quickly announced

"Oh I would! I would love to work there Inoo-chan! Anything, at this point I'll do anything. Please, please, just tell me the place?" He looked up at the tall girl through his glasses, putting on his best puppy face, and she gave in, grabbing a paper napkin from the holder on the table and scribbling an address and work hours on it, handing it to him.

"Just stop by, there aren't any flyers or anything." She informed him, gathering her government notes into her arms.

"Thanks!" He examined the address on the paper. It was within walking distance. He couldn't go tomorrow, but the next day he would definitely stop by. As he was thinking this Daiki scooped up his backpack and his plate of cookies and called

"We're gonna go back to my room to study, okay? Hey, if you're not busy can you make dinner?" Daiki's words trailed behind him like a banner attached to a plane on his way back to his room, and Yamada yelled back

"Shouldn't the guy studying to become a chef be the one doing the cooking?" Daiki yelled back something about _'stupid government'_ and _'when you can convince the university board'_, and Yamada smiled at his friend's antics, folding the napkin with the address for Inoo's work and slipping it into the back pocket of his jeans. He padded on bare feet around the bar of countertop that separated the kitchen, dipping into the fridge for ingredients he could make a meal out of.

"Inoo-chan, are you gonna stay for dinner?" He called, and after a moment of silence her voice drifted through Daiki's open door

"No, my boyfriend is waiting for me at home. Thanks though!" Yamada shook his head. Her boyfriend. He didn't know much about the guy, she'd mentioned his name once or twice—Yu-something—but she never had stayed for a meal, always making up an excuse, and she never brought him over or introduced him. It was just kinda weird. But she'd been with this guy since long before they'd met her, so... His thoughts trailed off, and he got to work on dinner, the act of cooking letting his mind wander, and he found himself listlessly humming, not even realizing it until Daiki and Inoo emerged from Daiki's bedroom, Inoo's things in hand, and Daiki said

"That song again, Yama-chan?" Yamada looked up from the boiling pot of noodles he had been stirring, surprised.

"What?"

"That song. You always hum it while you cook." Daiki hummed a few bars with him, as if to prove that Yamada did in fact, do this so regularly that even Daiki knew it by now, before his roommate turned his attention back to Inoo, who was slipping on her shoes, and thanked her for coming and saving him once again from the evil that was government. She just laughed at his dramatics and left, and Daiki helped Yamada finish the cooking. They took the meal to their little table, filling each other in on the happenings of their day, telling the funny stories and complaining about other students and professors as was appropriate, and afterwards Daiki offered to do the dishes, as Yamada had cooked.

Yamada's next day whirred past in a flurry of lectures and note taking, and it seemed too soon that he found himself on the way to Inoo's work to ask for that job. He had dressed in nice jeans, a v-neck t-shirt, and his best blazer. It was warm out, the light breeze making it very comfortable, and he clutched the napkin in his hand, rounding the last bend and counting building numbers until he stopped in front of the place, and looked up in disbelief. It was a quaint little cafe, the words Tea & Lace above the doors in fancy English script, and a cute chalkboard outside, with the special of the day written on it in pink chalk. Hesitantly he pushed the door open, and he was immediately met with a ring of voices all saying

"Irasshaimase!" His eyes swept the room. The place was...a maid cafe, the waitresses all dressed in adorable, flattering little black maid costumes. There were small tables littered all around the space, and it was open and fresh, a little counter displaying cakes and pastries at the back. Behind that counter was a door leading to what he assumed was the kitchen. He recalled Inoo's hesitance to give him the address; it was beginning to make sense. A pretty maid with light golden brown hair made her way over to him, she herself taller than he was, bowing and saying

"If you'll please come right this way, master."

"Um...I'm here to apply for a job...?" It came out sounding like a question, and she took him in, her gaze sweeping over his body, as if sizing him up. After a moment she nodded, and said

"Please follow me." She took him past the other two maids that were working; Yamada caught sight of Inoo, and she smiled at him as he passed, and behind the counter, through the door at the back of the cafe. The door led to a hallway, at one end a kitchen, the open entryway displaying a professional stainless steel working space that would have Daiki drooling in jealousy, and the other end a closed door. The maid twisted the handle of the door, pushing it open, saying

"Right in here." Yamada went to step in, and froze. There were two guys in there, probably in their early twenties, one was tall and amazingly thin, with simple dark hair, and the other was shorter, but still taller than Yamada, more muscular than the other young man; he had his arms around the others waist, and they were kissing. The maid either hadn't noticed, or hadn't cared, but at Yamada's expression she frowned, banging loudly on the door and startling the two men. They jumped apart, blinking in surprise at her. She rolled her eyes, saying

"Can't you two not do that during working hours? You don't see me all over Kei when we're working. Besides―" She jerked her head in Yamada's direction "―you have a guest. He wants a job." The shorter of the two men thanked the maid, slightly grudgingly, and she left. Yamada immediately felt his nervousness rise even more, and he stood there in the doorway for a moment before the tall young man beckoned him in, shutting the door behind him. He realized the room was not only an office, but a work space, multiple sewing machines set up around one half, with fabric and ribbons in boxes and on tables.

"Sorry about...that. I'm Yabu Kota, and this is my partner, Yaotome Hikaru." They both bowed, and Yamada nodded, getting out an

"I'm Yamada Ryosuke." and bowing in return. Yaotome beckoned for him to sit, and he did, facing them both across the desk. Once they were all seated, Yabu asked

"So, what brings you here, Yamada-san?" Yamada forced his hands not to fidget with the edge of his blazer as he explained that he knew one of the maids from his university and she had told him about the job opportunity. They listened well, and after he had finished Yaotome asked

"Do you know what kind of work you would be doing here, Yamada-san?" Yamada just shook his head, eager to find out. The two young men shared a look, before Yabu leaned across the desk, saying in hushed tones

"Waitressing." For a second Yamada didn't understand the dramatics, but then Yaotome leaned over the desk as well, and he said

_"Waitressing_...in a skirt." and everything made sense. He was applying for a job as a maid. Oh. They looked at him skeptically.

"Would you like to continue this interview, Yamada-san?" Yabu asked, brows furrowing. Yamada thought about it for a second. He didn't really have the choice. He _needed_ the job. He nodded, and Yaotome broke out into a grin. After that they discussed hours, shaving his legs, and just how low he could get away with his voice being without people being suspicious, and when Yabu stood Yamada thought the interview was finished. He was wrong. Yabu pulled open a desk drawer, extracting one of those long rolled up measures people use for sewing.

"We need your measurements for a uniform." Yabu explained. They measured around his chest, the length of his torso, his arm width, and so on until Yabu was satisfied. With that they asked if he could start next week. He smiled, thanked them, and left, pushing through the doors to the main part of the cafe. He looked at the counter, displaying all of the delicious looking cakes and things, and he gave in, buying two slices of strawberry and chocolate marble cake to go. As he left the maids all called

"Have a wonderful day!" after him, and it just made him groan a little...next week that would be him. He couldn't wait to tell Daiki this story. He went straight home, the little white box in his arms making his stomach growl in anticipation. When he pushed open the door his senses were assaulted with the smell of delicious food cooking, and he inhaled deeply, grinning. Daiki was at the stove, his bangs clipped up out of the way, an apron around his waist, and he grinned, welcoming Yamada back.

"So, how was it?" He asked. Yamada slipped off his shoes, padding in his socks over to the fridge and slipping the cake inside, trying to come up with a good one word description for his job interview.

"Weird." He decided, wrapping his arms around Daiki for a quick hug.

"You have to tell me all about it later." Daiki announced, "But right now, can you get out some plates for us?" Yamada set the table, and soon they had a piping hot meal in front of them. Yamada immediately dug in, not stopping until his plate was cleared.

"The food is really good Dai-chan. Really, really good." His praise made Daiki blush, and his roommate cleared his throat, immediately switching the subject.

"So, tell me about this weird interview you had." Yamada nodded, launching into the story. He explained, doing impersonations as he went, and when it got to the part where he interrupted Yabu and Yaotome kissing in the office he grabbed Daiki, pulling him up out of his chair and positioning him, explaining that they were _like this_ as he wrapped his arms around Daiki's waist, their faces a hair apart. The story continued on, and when Yamada finally explained that he had been hired as a female maid at the cafe Daiki couldn't hold back, and laughter bubbled out of him, and he ended up on the floor, clutching his stomach, tears in his eyes. Yamada pouted a bit. It was embarrassing. But Daiki looked so silly rolling around on the ground like that he couldn't stay annoyed, and he found himself doing impersonations and other silly things just to make Daiki laugh harder. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad...working at a place like that.


	2. Chapter 2

Yamada's first day of work rolled around, and he arrived fifteen minutes early, slipping in through a side door marked 'employee entrance'. The door led to a little locker room, the lockers large and spacious, presumably made to hold the poufy skirts that the maids wore without wrinkling them. He looked around for any other human life, and eventually he found the office, knocking on the door. There was a yell of

"Come in!" He twisted the knob, peeking his head in the room. Yabu was standing inside, and when he saw Yamada he grinned, waving him over.

"Hello Yabu-san. How are you?" Yamada asked, joining Yabu in the room.

"I'm just peachy. I finished your uniform just last night! I was just getting all of the pieces together for you, here." He grabbed a bundle of black fabric and lace from one of the nearby tables and handed them to Yamada.

"Did you shave everything?" Yamada nodded awkwardly. His now bare legs and underarms still felt strange.

"Good. Now I'm going to go find Hikaru, and you change. When I come back we'll see just how well that fits." Yabu slipped out and Yamada unfolded the bundle. It was multiple pieces, and he sighed, slipping off his shirt and jeans, picking up the first thing from the top of the stack. It was nude colored, and looked like....oh god. It was a bra, complete with fake breasts, and he stood there, examining it for a minute, disbelieving. He took a deep breath, and sighed, slipping the straps over his shoulders, and reaching behind himself to clasp it. How did women do this? His fingers fumbled with the little hooks on the back, arms bent at an awkward angle, and for over five minutes he struggled before finally slipping the hooks into their correct little metal loops. Ugh...that was tedious.  
He just ducked for the rest of the outfit, picking up the white cap sleeved button down shirt. It had a cute little collar, and it was just very...girly. He slipped it on, and picked another item from the table. The petticoat was white, and poufy, covered in lace. He thanked the gods he had worn briefs, and he slipped it onto his hips, buttoning it up and tucking his shirt in. Next he slipped on a black piece. It had straps that went over his shoulders, crisscrossing in the back, it went across his chest, and it fell in a skirt over his petticoat, letting the frills just barely peek out under the edge. The rest of the pieces were small. An apron, a little, cute white thing that tied around his waist, a bow that slipped under his collar similar to those school girls wore, white knee socks, and a lacy headband.

Once he had the ensemble on his eyes swept the room for a mirror, instead landing on a pair of black mary janes. He picked them up, checking the bottom for the size. They seemed to be for him. He slipped them on, and sure enough, they fit. He crossed his legs, feeling naked in the short skirt. After a moment Yabu returned, and he cooed when he saw Yamada.

"Oh, look at you! You're perfect! And those glasses are a great touch. We don't have a maid with glasses yet. It looks like it fits you well..spin for me." Yamada did, holding his arms out as he twirled.

"Everything looks like it’s going to work out fine, thank goodness. You're all ready to start! Let me introduce you to your coworkers. Come this way." Yabu led Yamada back to the little locker room, where three girls in maid uniforms matching his own were all standing in a cluster, talking in hushed tones. Behind them was a mirror, and Yamada caught a glimpse of himself. Oh god. He was...adorable. The other maids all turned, and Yamada was stunned for a moment. They were a group of some of the prettiest girls he had ever seen. They stood there for a moment, examining him and nodding their approval. Yabu announced

"Everyone, this is Yamada. Yamada's maid name will be Maid Ryo-chan!" Yamada waved at the girls. They smiled, Inoo waving back.

"I'm Yuri-chan!" Yuri was small, even littler than Yamada, with short dark hair and bangs. She was the definition of cute, with wide, beautiful eyes and an angelic smile. Then, Inoo said

"I'm Keiko-chan, but we already know each other, don't we Yama-chan?" Yamada grinned, nodding. Inoo looked great in her maid uniform, the short skirt accentuating her long, slender legs. The last maid to go was the one that had led him to the back office before, when he had come for his interview. She was just as tall as Inoo, if not a little taller, but she had feathery golden brown hair, and she had these smoldering eyes that made him freeze. Then, she broke into a grin, and suddenly she was innocent, and beautiful, and it totally threw Yamada for a loop. She announced

"I'm Yu-chan." and she looped an arm around Inoo's waist, almost protectively. Yamada gave them all a slight bow, and Yabu seemed content with the introductions, saying

"Yuri, could you show Yamada around for the day, let her follow you and see how it's done?" The little maid nodded, grinning up at Yabu, and Hikaru walked in, a mixing bowl in hand, and he said

"Can we open up?" Which prompted everyone to heard to the front of the store. Hikaru had trays of cakes waiting to be placed in the little glass counter, and pitchers of various drinks were waiting at the ready. Yabu skittered to the front door, unlocking it, before slipping back into the back, and for a few minutes it was just the four of them. Maid Yuri took to standing by the door, just inside, and Yamada followed her lead, standing on her left. As they waited, she filled him in.

"Being a maid is a lot like being a waitress anywhere else, except for some little things. We always say 'irasshaimase' when someone enters, and 'have a wonderful day' when they leave. All of the customers are referred to as 'master', and if someone wants to take their picture with you, you let them. Aside from that I think everything is about the same. You'll see. Just follow my lead." As she was finishing up two men in their mid twenties pulled open the door, and immediately the other three all called

"Irasshaimase!" Yamada mentally whacked himself for being slow on the uptake, and he bowed to the customers as Yuri said

"If you'll please come right this way, masters." The two men blushed, and followed as she and Yamada led them to a little table. They took their seats, and Yuri smiled, saying

"I'm Yuri-chan, and this cutie is Ryo-chan!" She slipped her arm through Yamada's, linking them at the elbow, and Yamada smiled, trying to be cute. "We're here for our masters!" Yuri continued, as Yu-chan came over, placing small menus in front of the men. "Anything you need, just let us know! We'll give you a minute to think, and then we'll be back, okay?" The men nodded, and with a last cute grin Yuri dragged Yamada away, behind the counter.

"See, Ryo-chan? It's not very difficult." She whispered, unlinking their arms. Yamada watched as Inoo seated a middle aged business man, smiling and flirting with him, before bringing him a coffee and muffin.

"Let's go check in with our masters, okay?" Yuri said, and Yamada nodded, following her back over to the table, where the two guys were sitting, watching as she said

"Masters, have you decided what you would like today?" She took the men's order, and with a smile said,

"Ryo-chan will keep our masters company while I get these things, okay? Please hold on for one moment!" And stranded Yamada there with the two guys. Nervously, Yamada pushed up his glasses, and smiled.

"Hello masters, I'm lucky I get to serve such handsome men." Was that what he was supposed to say? He had no idea what to do. But then they smiled, and one said

"Well, we're lucky we got such cute maids, aren't we, Ken?" The other one, Ken, nodded and Yamada internally breathed a sigh of relief. He balled his hands up into little fists, putting them up in front of his face to hide his blush, the way those girls in cutesy animes did, and said

"You masters are so nice!" Thankfully, as he was saying that Yuri-chan returned with their order, and with some smiles and a "Please enjoy your sweets, masters!" they were able to tend to a new man that had just walked in the door. And so the day went on. It wasn't a hard job, Yamada was catching on fast, and the other maids were all very sweet to him. The customers were mostly men, usually college age or a bit older. They would flirt, laugh, and blush easily at the maids’ compliments, almost all of them promising to come back again soon. The feminine mannerisms would take a while, but soon Yamada was sure he would be good at this; it wasn't very hard to please the customers. Despite the strange situation, he recognized that it was a good job.

Finally, around five in the evening they officially closed shop. Yabu thanked them for their hard work, and preparations began. Yu-chan flipped the sign on the door from welcome to closed, Yamada and Inoo got to work wiping down the little tables and sweeping up the floor. Yabu and Hikaru were washing and drying dishes, and Yuri-chan was taking the leftovers they had, sorting them out and putting them in little to go boxes. One by one they all went back to the little locker room, Yamada last to go back, snagging the little box with _Ryo-chan_ written on it in cutesy handwriting from the counter and disappearing through the doorway into the back, down the left hall and to the right, where all of the other maids—were changing! He caught a glimpse of Yuri pulling her shirt down over her hips and let out a little squeak of surprise, covering his eyes and turning his back. None of the others seemed to notice him, all of them chattering and laughing as they changed, and slowly a realization dawned on him...their voices were different...too low to be girls.

They all sounded nearly the same, yet even Inoo's high falsetto tone was gone. Slowly he turned to look at them all. Yuri was topless, lean and muscled and....flat chested, standing in a pair of jeans, bucking what could only be a man’s belt, her cutesy voice gone, lower tones falling from those pink lips. She was talking with Yu-chan, who was standing there in a pair of jeans that she had obviously just pulled on. She had her bra still on, with its fake cups exactly like the one Yamada was wearing, and as he watched she reached into her hair, pulling out clips, and to his surprise large amounts of her hair came away, and she clipped them to her uniform leaving her hair only slightly longer than his, and she ran her fingers through it, complaining about the extensions. Inoo stepped over, massaging Yu-chan's scalp with her dainty fingers, and kissed her on the cheek, before unhooking the bra for her and hanging it up in the locker labeled _Takaki_. Takaki, why did that name sound familiar? Still, that was not the most pressing question on his mind.

"Are...are you all...men?" He asked. They all turned to look at him, amused at his question.

"Kei, I thought you said you knew Ryo-chan already?" Yu-chan said, slipping on a tank top over her—his? —bare chest. Inoo grinned.

"I do. From school. At school I'm still a girl, remember?" Hold on wait—Inoo was a boy too?! He was very confused. Yuri smiled, pulling a T-shirt over his head, and said

"To answer your question Yamada; yes we're all men. My real name is Chinen Yuri. He—" Chinen pointed to Yu-chan "is Takaki Yuya, Inoo's boyfriend," Takaki leaned in, pressing a kiss to Inoo's lips, "and he—" Chinen pointed to Inoo, who too had just pulled long, curly extensions out of his hair, leaving it shorter than Yamada had ever seen it. "is Inoo Kei. We're all guys, pretending to be women and working as maids." Yamada opened his mouth to protest—Inoo was a girl every day! She—_he?_ had been, for _months!_ Chinen plowed on, and said, as if having read his thoughts

"Yes, Inoo pretends to be a girl at school, and yes, we know you're a guy too, so really, you have nothing to be concerned about. Is there anything else?" Yamada just stared, stunned for a moment, as Inoo pulled off his petticoat and hung it up in his locker, slipping into baggy jeans and a T-shirt, his blatantly male figure obvious now, his voice lower, no longer annoyingly high. It all made sense, but his brain was still rejecting the information. Finally, he managed

"Do I have a locker?"

"Yeah, over here, by Inoo's." Chinen gestured, and sure enough, his name was already written on the tag of one of the doors. He thanked Chinen and quickly undressed, changing into his own clothes slowly, still going over the facts, trying to absorb all of the information.

"Yamada, will you be okay going home?" Inoo asked, and Yamada looked up to see all of them standing by the door, bags packed, and strangely enough, motorcycle helmets under each of their arms. We're they some sort of skirt wearing biker gang?

"I'll be fine, thanks Inoo...-kun." He stumbled over Inoo's name, but they all just nodded, and left. Oh man, would he have some stories to tell Daiki when he got home.


	3. Chapter 3

"Wait, what?!" Daiki froze, his Yamada-has-a-job-now-cake halfway to his mouth, eyes wide.

"I said Inoo's actually a guy."

"Not possible." Daiki dismissed the statement at once, shoving his fork into his mouth, cheeks puffing out from the sheer amount of cake.

"Oh? You don't trust me?" Yamada said playfully, brushing left over bits of the this-is-a-one-man-surprise-party-confetti out of his bangs, waiting for Daiki to swallow.

"No, it's just that, Inoo-chan has _boobs."_ Daiki gestured with his hands. "I've accidentally touched them once." Yamada grinned.

"How do you know they're real? Have you ever touched any other girl’s boobs?" Daiki was appalled at the accusation.

"Me? No! Why on earth would I want to do that?"

"Exactly. So you wouldn't know real ones from fake ones. Inoo's a guy Daiki. He wears a bra with fake...can we stop saying boobs? Breasts, yeah? Breasts. Inoo has fake breasts."

"How do you know _he_ wears this bra with built in lady parts?" Daiki asked, eyes narrowing suspiciously. Yamada raised his eyebrows, challenging Daiki, trying to keep from answering the question, but in the end he said

"Because I have one too." Daiki snorted into his cake. "We all do! Look, it comes with the job! I didn't know! Dai-chan, stop—" Daiki dropped his fork, leaning back in his chair, clutching at his stomach, tears threatening to spill from his scrunched up eyes as he howled with laughter, his low chuckles reverberating around the room. Yamada just stabbed at his cake, shoving it into his mouth, chewing impatiently as he waited for his friend to finish. Finally, Daiki sat up, one elbow on the table, and he wiped his eyes, sighing.

"Oh, that's perfect." Daiki announced, and Yamada rolled his eyes, deciding to change the subject.

"On another note, I finally met Yuya." Daiki scrunched his eyebrows together at the name.

"Why does that name—"

"—sound so familiar?" Yamada finished for him. "It's because Inoo-chan...-kun has mentioned him. He's Inoo's boyfriend." Daiki's eyes shone with revelation.

"This guy, he's Inoo's boyfriend, but you've just informed me that Inoo's a guy, so are you saying...Inoo's gay?!"

"Yup."

"And his high school dropout, motorcycle riding, tough guy boyfriend has a job cross dressing at a maid cafe?!" Yamada scrunched his eyebrows together in confusion at the description of Takaki that Daiki gave, it not really fitting the image of Takaki he had taken from the day, but he figured Daiki and Inoo had discussed Inoo's love life more than he had.

"Yeah, I guess so." Daiki shook his head in disbelief.

"Yama-chan, this is the best job you've ever had. And that's including the waiter thing you had going at that gay bar. The shirtless one." Yamada just grinned, and finished up the last of his cake.

Yamada's next day for work he went straight from school, his only class of the day ridiculously early. He still managed to arrive as the others did, jogging to catch the door before it closed behind Chinen. They all got to changing out of their clothes, the other three all slipping off leather jackets and storing them, along with their motorcycle helmets, in the bottoms of their lockers, quietly talking to each other as they clipped in hair pieces and fluffed their skirts. Yamada stripped down, and once again began wrestling with his bra, when Inoo stepped over, saying

"I've got an easier way to do that, here..." Inoo slipped the straps from Yamada's shoulders, flipping the bra so that it was upside down and backwards.

"Now hook it while you can see what you're doing." Inoo advised. Yamada did, turning the contraption and flipping the cups, slipping his arms through. That was a lot easier.

"Thanks."

"Of course. Actually Yama-chan, there's something I wanted to ask of you. At school, I choose to pretend to be a girl. It's not that I don't like to be a boy, I am happy with my gender, or whatever. I do it because a lot of college students come here, and I don't want to get recognized...I've had this girl thing going for a long time. Is there any way we can keep my true gender a secret between us?" Yamada felt a sinking feeling in his chest.

"Inoo-kun, I won't go spreading rumors, or telling people anything, I promise, but..." He slipped the collared shirt on, buttoning it as he steeled himself for Inoo's disappointment in him. "I already told Daiki. Just Daiki! He's my best friend, and you two hang out all of the time, I thought it'd be okay! I'm sorry." Inoo just nodded.

"Okay, then we'll have to talk to Daiki about it too." Inoo wandered back over to his boyfriend, and adjusted his lacy headband in the mirror, digging some mascara out of a little makeup bag in his locker and applying it as he relayed his conversation with Yamada to the other boys. Yamada changed into his outfit as quickly as possible, fluffing his skirt and slipping on his shoes, just as Yabu walked in.

"Good morning! Are we ready to open?" He called. He had a platter of freshly made cakes and pastries in his hands, and Hikaru snuck in behind him, slipping his arms around Yabu's skinny waist, pulling him in for a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Kota, let the _girls_ finish up. We don't want to rush them. Here, I'll take this; you can go and write our specials out on the board, okay?" Hikaru plucked the tray from Yabu's hands, slipping out into the public portion of the cafe to put his creations on display. Yabu followed behind, grabbing a stick of chalk from a jar as he passed, off to write days specials on their little chalk board, and once they had both left, Yamada was approached by Takaki, the older young man doing his mascara as he talked.

"Kei said your buddy Arioka knows about him. Is it okay if I go by after work and talk to him? Just to make sure he's not gonna tell anyone, or be a problem. I know he's gay, and I don't want him getting any ideas, now that he knows about Kei." Takaki popped the mascara brush into its bottle, screwing it shut and staring at Yamada expectantly.

"Get any ideas?" Yamada asked. Takaki frowned.

"Yeah. They hang out a lot. I just want to make sure he knows that Kei is off limits. It wasn't a problem before, but now..."

"Sure, I'll tell him you'll be by." Yamada offered, snagging his cell phone from his locker. Takaki nodded in thanks, and he left to go open the shop, Yamada finding _Dai-chan_ in his contacts and typing out a quick text

_Hey, Takaki-kun's coming by after work, okay? He said he wants to talk to you._ Once it had been sent he made his way to the front of the store, slipping out from behind the counter just in time to see their first customer of the day enter, and without further ado he called out

"Irashaimasse!" He took his place next to Chinen, and the day went on in a flurry of flirting playfully with men, bringing them cake, and chatting with the other maids when they didn't have any customers. It was around four o' clock when a tall boy in a high school uniform came in, obviously having come straight from school. He was huge, tall with broad shoulders and thick muscular looking limbs towering over them, and when they all welcomed him he didn't really smile, just glanced around at their faces blankly, nodding slightly in recognition at a few of them, until he spotted Chinen. The boy’s eyes lit up and he stood up straighter as Chinen stepped forward to direct the boy to a table, and Yamada meant to follow, but Takaki grabbed him by the arm, holding him back.

"Let Yuri-chan take this one alone, Ryutaro's only here because of her, she wouldn't appreciate you tagging along." Takaki whispered, a giggle threatening to escape his lips.

"What? Who?" Yamada asked, but a new customer came in, and Takaki left to go and serve them. Yamada turned his attention back to the high schooler, watching as Chinen took the boy to a little table along the wall, greeting the kid with a huge smile and to Yamada's surprise the kid smiled back, Chinen asking a quick question, the boy nodding in response before Chinen flounced back, nearly skipping, his skirt bouncing, and he said

"The usual for Ryu-chan!" Inoo already had a tray waiting with tea and a small cake, and Chinen took it over, actually sitting down across the table from the other guy, looking ridiculously tiny next to him, and within moments the two were engrossed in conversation, Yamada amazed by the exchange. They both looked ridiculously happy to be sitting there, across from each other.

"That kid is Ryutaro-kun." Inoo told him, breaking Yamada out of his bewildered state. "He's been coming by almost every day since Chinen started working here three months ago." Yamada turned his gaze back to the two, watching the way Ryutaro looked at Chinen, realization dawning on his face.

"Does he know the truth about Yuri-chan?" He asked, and Inoo shook his head, before leaving, having been waved over by Takaki. Yamada watched as Ryutaro finished his cake, and Chinen took the tray with the used dishes to be washed, Yamada stepping up behind the register where Ryutaro paid silently, only speaking when Chinen came out from the back, his cheeks flushing a bit as he murmured

"Bye, Yuri-chan." Chinen grinned, and said

"Bye, Ryu-chan!" Waving as the much taller boy walked away, exiting cafe and taking off down the street, bag over one shoulder. Once he left, Chinen sighed.

"I think he has a bit of a crush on you, Yuri-chan." Yamada said, and Chinen groaned.

"Yeah, I know. He thinks he does too."

"He_ thinks_ he does?" Yamada asked, confused.

"He has a crush on Yuri-chan, the cute little_ female_ maid. He just doesn't know that she's not real." The last sentence was tacked on in a barely audible murmur, and with that their conversation ended, a new customer sweeping in, stealing their focus, the rest of the day whirring by, business picking up until closing time.

At the end of the day, after they had closed up they all filed into the back locker room, Yamada immediately checking his phone, where sure enough Daiki had sent him a message.

_What does Takaki-kun want with me?_ He typed back a quick _He's just being a protective boyfriend_, before stripping out of his maid clothes, glad to put on proper pants. Once he was ready to go home, his school bag slung over his shoulder, he turned to Takaki.

"Are you ready?" Takaki was lacing up his combat boots, his leather jacket slung over his shoulder. The brunette stood up, glancing over to where Inoo was still in his underwear, Chinen hanging up his apron carefully.

"Once they're all ready, we can go." Yamada was confused. _Was everyone coming?_ Apparently they were, the other three all grabbing motorcycle helmets from their lockers and tucking them under their arms, as they all walked out the door, Chinen turning to Yamada and saying

"I can't wait to meet Arioka-kun! Inoo talks about him a lot at home." Yamada barely had time to ask

"At home?" Before a new surprise presented itself. There, parked next to the side of the building, was a sleek black motorcycle with a matching sidecar attached, perfect for seating three people. These guys weren't a motorcycle gang...they all rode on one bike. Takaki walked up to the machine, pulling a set of keys out of his pocket as he did so, mounting it and kicking out the break.

"You can use my helmet this time, here—" He tossed the helmet to Yamada, Inoo slipping into the seat behind Takaki, motioning for Chinen to come over. The petite young man turned to Yamada, and said

"You get to ride in the sidecar!" Before strapping his helmet on and squeezing in between Takaki and Inoo on the body of the bike, Inoo wrapping his arms tightly around Chinen’s little frame. Yamada opened his mouth to protest—he'd never even _touched_ a motorcycle before, and now they wanted him to ride with them? Ridiculous. No way. But Takaki started the engine, its roar drowning out any protests; all of them turning to Yamada expectantly, and not knowing what else to do Yamada scrambled in and they were off, one thought racing through his mind. _Please don't let us die. Please._


	4. Chapter 4

They all made it to Yamada's apartment building in one piece, much to Yamada's relief. The others all slipped themselves off of the bike gracefully, removing their helmets and shaking their hair out like they were movie stars. Yamada just clambered out of the sidecar awkwardly; glad to be on solid ground. He handed his helmet back to Takaki, and Takaki hung it on the handle of his bike, gesturing to the building

"Lead the way." Yamada did, taking the stairs up, texting Daiki as he did so, hoping to give his friend a bit of a heads up.

_All of them came. _He sent the message, taking the second flight up to the third story, and he pushed open the apartment door, announcing

"I'm home!" The others filed in after him, everyone removing their shoes as Daiki peaked around the corner from the kitchen, his bangs pinned back, apron on, obviously in the middle of cooking dinner. When he saw the whole group he came out of the kitchen, welcoming them in, offering the couch as Yamada made them all tea. Everyone introduced themselves, Inoo made himself at home, as usual, and Chinen did too, but Takaki remained standing, glaring a bit at Daiki. Daiki was staring, rather open mouthed, at Inoo.

"So...you really are a guy." Inoo grinned.

"Yup." At the sound of Inoo's natural, lower voice Daiki blinked in confusion.

"That's going to take some getting used to." Inoo's grin just grew wider. Takaki frowned, obviously uncomfortable with just how well the two of the got along.

"We need to talk. Do you have someplace...private?" Takaki said, drawing Daiki's focus. Daiki took a deep breath, eyes washing over Takaki's scary expression and leather jacket, and he nodded meekly, leading Takaki out through his bedroom to the patio at the back. Chinen just sat there, eyes roaming the room, and he said

"This place is cozy. Just right for two people, but I don't think we would fit, would we, Inoo?" Inoo smiled, and shook his head

"No, probably not."

"You three all live together?" Yamada asked, setting down tea cups in front of each of them, and taking a seat opposite the other two. Inoo nodded.

"Yuya and I have been together since we were...sixteen? Yeah, sixteen. We've been renting a house together for the past three years, and then when we found Chinen," Inoo slung a skinny arm across Chinen’s shoulders, and Chinen grinned up at him. "Yuya insisted that he move in at once, so it's the three of us now. We're like a little family unit. We've been this way for...three months now. That was when Yuya got the sidecar. He didn't like Chii riding on the motorbike; he didn't think it was safe for that many people." Yamada was surprised. These guys were a unique bunch. They had pretty much completely disregarded the social norms, but they seemed amazingly happy with their lifestyle. It was nice.

"Hey Chinen-kun, what's the deal with Ryutaro-kun, if you don’t mind my asking." Curiosity about the boy had been buzzing at the back of Yamada's mind ever since he had walked into the cafe. Chinen looked up, surprised.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you two just seem to really like each other. But he doesn't know that you're a guy, right? Wait—you do have a crush on him, don't you?" Chinen blushed, and Inoo cooed at how cute he was.

"Yeah, I do."

"So, are you gonna tell him? He likes you; you could go on a date!" He thought about just how happy they had seemed earlier that day, and it almost seemed silly that neither of them had made a move.

"NO!" Chinen objected, looking over at Yamada in disbelief at the thought. Yamada was taken aback.

"Why not?"

"Because he doesn't know I'm a boy. He wouldn't want me if he knew. He'd be grossed out." Chinen's voice grew quieter as he spoke, despair washing over him. Inoo pulled Chinen close, kissing him gently on the forehead, the way a mother would with her child. Yamada decided to let the matter drop, and within moments Takaki and Daiki returned. Almost immediately Takaki pulled Chinen up on his back, the smallest young man wrapping his arms around Takaki's neck, and he took Inoo's hand. With an exchange of good nights, Yamada's coworkers left. As soon as the door shut, Daiki let out a moan, sinking to the floor dramatically by Yamada's feet, wrapping his arms around Yamada's knees.

"That was one of the scariest things I've ever had to do in my entire life." Daiki announced. "He is terrifying." Yamada looked down bemusedly at his best friend.

"Takaki-kun? He's not scary."

"Well, if I _'so much as look at Inoo in a way that makes him uncomfortable'_ then he's going to break my nose." Daiki announced, clambering to his feet. Yamada laughs.

"No way! He's so nice and gentle at work! You should see him as a maid—completely different person." Daiki went over to the stove, getting back to his meal preparations.

"Yeah? Well I do have to stop by and see you in that outfit they're making you wear. Maybe on Saturday I'll come by."

"Sounds good." Yamada went to the cupboards, pulling out dishes and setting the table as Daiki chattered on.

As promised, it was just before lunch time that Saturday when Daiki walked through the door. Yamada stole himself for the worst teasing of his life, and called

"Irasshaimase!" In a chorus with the other maids. Daiki froze at the doorway, eyes sweeping the place, taking everything in. Chinen just shoved Yamada forward.

"You've got this one on your own, Ryo-chan." Yamada tried hard not to be embarrassed as he stepped forward, and said

"If you'll come with me, master, I'll get you a nice place to sit." At that a chuckle burst from Daiki's lips, and Yamada felt a blush blooming across his cheeks.

"Do you do this with everyone?" Daiki asked as Yamada led him to a table on the right, next to the wall. Yamada ignored the question, setting a menu down in front of Daiki. Daiki disregarded it, instead looking over to where Takaki was serving a group of four college guys, the four talking loudly and flirting with him. Daiki raised his eyebrows in surprise, but soon his attention was drawn back to Yamada, his gaze sweeping over the lacy skirt and little apron, and he blushed a bit, announcing

"Yama-chan, you are the cutest thing I have ever seen. If I wasn't gay, and didn't know you were a man, I'd be drooling. Actually, I'm drooling a little bit anyway." Yamada hid his face in embarrassment.

"Just...what do you want to eat, Daiki." Daiki pushed the menu away, and said

"Get me something you think I'll like." Yamada nodded, returning to the counter, where Yabu was manning the register, and he said

"Dai-chan wants tea and a chocolate and cream cupcake." Yabu nodded, setting the requested things on a tray for him, and as he passed it over he said

"Go sit with him, Ryo-chan. Take a little break." Yamada smiled, surprised at the offer.

"Thanks!" He took the tray over, sitting down in the chair opposite Daiki.

"Is this okay?" Daiki asked, and Yamada nodded.

"Yabu-kun said I could, and he's an owner, so..." Daiki nodded, bringing his tea to his lips.

"I can't believe that's the guy the threatened me the other night." Daiki announced as Takaki waved his customers goodbye, flicking his long hair over his shoulder as he did so, the perfect picture of femininity. Yamada smiled.

"Yeah, I told you he was different at work." Daiki shook his head in disbelief, and took a bite out of his cupcake. His eyes widened in surprise.

"This thing is from heaven." He declared. Yamada grinned.

"I hoped you'd like it. They're new; Hikaru's trying a different recipe. I haven't actually had one yet." Daiki leaned across the table, holding the cupcake up to Yamada's lips.

"It's amazing, have a bite." Yamada did, and when he bit down creamy chocolate and warm sugary icing overloaded his senses, and he stared in awe at the little cake.

"I'm a good picker." He decided, chewing slowly, savoring it. Daiki nodded in agreement, swiping a glob of icing from the corner of Yamada's mouth and promptly licking it from his own finger, smiling in happiness.

"Did you hear that our neighbors are moving? That couple next door, the Wakamuras. Apparently they're getting a divorce, terrible stuff." Daiki said, changing the topic before lifting the cupcake once more to his lips.

"Perhaps we'll get some really hot men next door, and you can finally get out of the house and go on a date!" Yamada joked, and Daiki grinned, saying

"Or they'd just stay over at our place and have a night in." Yamada scrunched up his nose in disgust.

"I don't want to deal with you and some hot guy cuddling on the couch, saying cheesy things as you stare into each other’s eyes." He grabbed Daiki's hand in both of his own across the table, and said dramatically

"Dai-chan....have my babies!" Daiki burst into giggles, Yamada too unable to keep a straight face, and when Inoo caught sight of them he wolf whistled, and any restraint they had been using fell away, and they laughed until they cried, right there in the cafe.

Soon, even the maid job became a regular thing. Yamada only followed Chinen on his first week, and then he's put on his own, helping customers. Daiki makes it a point to come by every Saturday after his first visit, to tease Yamada, talk with Inoo and Chinen, and eat way too much cake. Over time, even Takaki was warming up to Yamada's roommate. It was a little over a month later, at the end of the day, only fifteen minutes to closing, the cafe empty except for its employees, when something different happened.

"Maybe we should just close up early today?" Chinen suggested, looking around at the shockingly empty tables. It had seemed that in the last few weeks their client numbers had nearly doubled, Hikaru and Yabu were even talking about hiring another maid. Where they'd find another guy willing to do this was anyone's guess, Yamada thought, but he kept the notion to himself. Today it seemed, everyone had decided to stay home. Inoo pouted a bit at Chinen's suggestion, but nodded, and Takaki said

"Yamada, change the sign on the door will you? Let's start cleaning up." Yamada strode over to the door to lock it, but just as he was getting there, a black car pulled up in front of the cafe, a man in a suit climbing out of the back seat and striding up to the door. Surprised, Yamada nearly forgot the customary greeting as the man entered.

"Irasshaimase!" Yamada and the others all called out, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Chinen glance about frantically for a moment before ducking behind the counter. Weird. He turned back to their new customer, getting a better look at the guy. He was rather average in height, taller than Yamada but shorter than Yabu, and he was the usual age of their customers, a young guy, maybe just out of college? He was different though, aside from his timing. Yamada couldn't quite put his finger on it. He had huge eyes, and he held himself with a sort of understated confidence. The most noticeable thing about the guy was a long scar that ran down the left side of his face, cutting down his cheekbone, just barely missing his eye.

"If you'll please come right this way master, I'll find you a nice place to sit." He offered, not knowing what else to do. The guy nodded, and silently followed Yamada to a table toward the back of the cafe, seating himself gracefully. Yamada got him a menu, and the hand that reached out to take it only had four fingers. He froze for a second, staring at the nub that was in the place the little finger was supposed to be. It was rather repulsive, the scarred and healed over flesh raw looking, purplish red and shiny. The man caught his stare, but he just smiled, taking the menu, and saying

"Can you please tell Hikaru and Yabu that I'm here? Just say Yamashita-san has stopped by." Yamada nodded, bowing slightly before heading back into the kitchen, where Hikaru was in the middle of cleaning an electric mixer, Yabu washing the mixing bowl.

"Um, there's a man here for you. He says his name is Yamashita-san." Immediately they both looked up, identical surprised looks on their faces, and they dropped what they were doing, practically running out of the room. Yamada followed behind, shocked when Yabu practically yelled at the sight of the man.

"Shoon!" They both skittered around the counter, and the guest stood up, opening his arms wide as Yabu barreled into the man, wrapping his arms around him in a tight hug. Once he pulled back Hikaru took his turn, engulfing the newcomer in his arms, a grin on his face. It seemed that after seeing this Chinen deemed it safe, creeping back out from behind the counter.

"Keiko-chan, close up will you? Oh, and Ryo-chan, can you get us tea for Shoon? Thanks." Yabu's words were immediately obeyed, Yamada asking

"What type of tea would you prefer, master?" Shoon looked up, smiling slightly, and he said

"Green tea please." He handed back the menu, and Yamada nodded, going over to the teapot, deliberately making as little noise as possible, listening in as Hikaru asked

"So, how's life been? You've gotten a few more battle wounds, everything alright?" Yamada poured the tea into a cup, setting it on a little saucer as Shoon replied

"Oh this, it's nothing. Turf battle about a year ago. This one—" Yamada turned back to the table to see Shoon holding up his a four fingered hand. "—is much more recent. A few weeks old, I just got the bandages off. That's actually why I'm here." Yamada set the tea down in front of the man, and he smiled and nodded in thanks. "Actually, I was hoping to talk to everyone, if your maids won't mind." Hikaru frowned slightly, obviously concerned for the man, but he nodded willingly and said

"Hey guys, Shoon has something he wants to talk to us about, so...could you come join us, please? He's nice, don't worry, he won't bite." The last sentence was tacked on the end in a light, joking manner, but it was still reassuring, and Yamada helped Takaki push some tables together, so that they were all sitting in a big cluster. Once they were all there, the scar faced man began his story.


	5. Chapter 5

"I'm looking for someone. A young man, about Hikaru's height, a couple of years younger than us." He gestured between himself and Yabu. "He's got thick black hair, tattoos of a hannya mask and sakura all down his back. He's the boss' son, his only son, the next of the family line. I'm his personal caretaker and body guard." Shoon explained. He pulled a picture out of his jacket pocket, putting it down on the table. The picture was of a young guy in a suit crossing the street, sunglasses covering his eyes, surrounded by tough looking men with serious expressions. One of the men was Shoon himself, walking right next to the younger guy. It honestly wasn't the most distinguishable picture. "He's always been a good son, very smart, hardworking, he treated me really well. Then, about a month ago he went off and disappeared, and all he left behind was this..." Shoon dug once more into his jacket pocket, pulling out a very official looking letter with a family crest stamped in the corner in what looked suspiciously like blood, and sliding it across the table. Hikaru and Yabu leaned in, reading out loud.

"Shoon-kun, you have always been someone I hold dearly to me. You have never given me anything but your purest emotions, and your skilled dedication, and for that I am eternally grateful. That is why it pains me to inform you that I have decided to leave this life. I have met someone, and I have decided to be with them forever, no matter what the cost. Have you ever been in love, Shoon-kun? I want be with them and take care of them, away from our way of life. This is no reflection of my opinions of you or our brothers, and I will miss you all greatly. I have enclosed a note explaining everything to my father, in the hope that he will not punish you for my actions, for they are mine and mine alone. Please do not come looking for me, I will be fine. I am sorry, but this is something I must do. I have to believe that true love can overcome any obstacle. Goodbye, old friend. I will miss you." Shoon sipped his tea patiently as Yabu read, and when he finally finished he continued

"It was my fault. I should have kept a closer eye on him. The boss was very upset, I was punished, that's when I lost my finger." He sighed. "I'm not to come back until the young master returns." Hikaru frowned, examining the letter again, looking for any telling information.

"This kid ran away from home and all you have to go on is a lot of apologies and the writings of a lovesick fool. That's not a lot you can use to track the guy down. What makes you think he might be here?" Shoon sighed, and shrugged.

"Nothing really—I was just using this as an excuse to see you all, make sure you're okay. We've already checked in our immediate area, and we've got eyes out across all of our territory. It really is only a matter of time before we find the young master. I just don't understand why he would do this in the first place. He's usually very sensible, not one to make rash decisions, and he's very aware of the consequences of his actions. This is out of character for him." Shoon sighed, draining his teacup. "I don't suppose any of you have seen him, have you?" They all took the photo individually, getting a closer look, but in the end they all shook their heads, and Shoon tucked the photo back into his jacket pocket, along with the letter. "Thanks everyone, sorry for wasting your time." He stood, thanking them for the tea, and Yabu and Hikaru hugged him goodbye, wishing him luck on his hunt, and telling him to come by whenever he got the chance. As he exited the cafe, Yamada and the others called

"Have a nice day!" After him, Yamada couldn't help but wonder how Hikaru and Yabu became friends with a guy like that. Obviously similarly minded, as they began cleaning up, Inoo asked

"Who was that?" Yabu stopped sweeping the floor, and leaned on his broom handle, lanky arms loose, and he flicked his bangs out of his eyes as he said

"He's Yamashita Shoon. The three of us all grew up together. He, Hikaru and I all were inseparable when we were kids, isn't that right, Hika?" Hikaru finished wiping down a table and nodded, slinging his rag over his shoulder.

"Yup. He got us out of all sorts of trouble. It helps keep away bullies to be friends with a yakuza boy."

"Yakuza?!" Takaki asked, awe in his tone. Yabu nodded, grinning. Yamada frowned, his suspicions confirmed.

"He was an orphan, taken in by the areas yakuza group when we were just starting school; he was...eight years old I think. Now he's one of their top guys, he's the personal caretaker to the boss' son, so we don't get to see him much. He writes occasionally though." Takaki shook his head in disbelief.

"The boss—as in the leader of the whole clan?" Hikaru and Yabu nodded. "That dude with the sunglasses in the picture that he's looking for...is a mob prince?" Another set of nods. "I can't believe two puny, adorable guys like you two have mob connections." Hikaru came up behind Yabu, giving him a quick peck on the lips and wrapping his arms around his partner’s waist, a grin on his face.

"Yeah, we're just that spectacular." He announced. "Now let’s get this done so we can go home."

Yamada told Daiki all about the encounter with the yakuza man later that evening over a sink full of dirty dishes. Daiki groaned after Yamada told him, drying the bowl in his hands expertly before setting it in its appropriate cupboard. He propped his head on Yamada's shoulder, and said

"And the only interesting thing that happened to me today was five lobsters getting loose in Chef Yamaguchi's class."

"What?! Lobsters? How?" Yamada asked, genuinely curious. Daiki lifted his head up, taking the plate Yamada passed him and said

"That idiot Sawaguchi—the one that looks kinda like what Tsuyoshi Kusanagi would look like if he had a pigs nose—" Yamada nodded, he'd heard of this guy. "He did it. He opened the cage to get one, but he opened the side door, not the top. And then he forgot to close it. All I learned today was how to chase a lobster." Yamada giggled, imagining Daiki scrambling around in his chef clothes on all fours after the creature, the mental image one of perfect hilarity. He turned off the sink faucet, drying his hands on a towel, and he said

"That can't have been all you learned today." Daiki fell into silence trying to think of something else he had learned. For a moment Yamada feared he might actually be unsuccessful, but then he said

"I talked with the landlord a bit today. She said we're getting new neighbors! The Wakamuras place has new renters. They should be here any day now, apparently." Yamada was surprised the landlord had managed to find new tenants that fast.

"Do we know what kind of people they are?" Daiki shrugged, putting away the last plate.

"No clue. As long as they don't have disturbingly raucous sex, I think we'll get along fine." Yamada nodded in agreement, wondering what types of people would move in next door. They were on the third story, so probably not anyone too old. Perhaps it would be more college students. Or a single mother with one child. Perhaps even a cute lesbian couple. As long as it wasn't hot gay single guys, he didn't really care. He didn't want to watch Daiki make out with some guy on their couch.

Two days later, his hopes were dashed when he came home from school to see two young guys around his age hauling boxes up the stairs. They were tall, and judging from the size of the boxes they were carrying, strong. He watched from a distance as they climbed, talking to each other as they made their way up. Once they had disappeared inside the apartment next to theirs he groaned to himself before entering his own place, slipping off his shoes by the door and tossing his bag onto his bed. Within five minutes he had an ice cream in hand, and had pinned his bangs out of his face. It wouldn't be long now before Daiki got back, and then they could get to work on dinner. Perhaps tonight they could hang out and watch a movie; he could pop by the DVD rental place around the corner and pick one up for them. He was just about to call Daiki and ask when his roommate burst in the door, grocery bags slung over his arms.

"I'm home!" He announced, slipping off his shoes. Yamada got up from the couch, taking some of the bags from him, and said

"Welcome back. How was your day?" Daiki grinned, brushing the hair out of his eyes, and said

"My day was great! Oh, we need to straighten up." His gaze swept around the room. It really wasn't that messy. Sure, the stack of idol magazines had tipped off of the coffee table, and Yamada had stayed up studying late the night before, his textbooks and notes splayed out in one area of the table, but they'd vacuumed recently and it wasn't as if anyone was coming over. He sent Daiki a questioning glance, and his friend smiled, pulling the groceries out of their bags and stacking them on their little circular table.

"I invited the new neighbors over for dinner. They should be here in...." he checked the clock, strapping on an apron as he did so. "...a little less than two hours." Well, there went the movie plans.

"I'll get started then." He announced, finishing up his ice cream and pushing his glasses farther up his nose before getting to work. Daiki turned on their little radio, and the cooking and cleaning went by in a blur of music and the gradual overtaking of the smells of good food. Yamada finished up tidying the place quickly, helping Daiki chop veggies and stir mixes, and they were nearly done when there was a knock on the door.

"Oh, that'll be them!" Daiki seemed rather flustered, eyes sweeping over their nearly finished meal and he asked

"Do you think they'll mind the wait?" Yamada grinned.

"Not once they've tasted it." He pulled off his own apron, saying

"I'll let them in." Daiki nodded, switching off the radio as Yamada pulled the door open. Standing on their doorstep were two young men; as he had thought, they seemed to be around his age, and were tall, both of them at least 10 cm taller than himself and Daiki. He had to tilt his head back a bit to look at their faces properly. The one on the right was the shorter of the two, but he was broad shouldered, well built with a big, strong looking body. He had thick black hair, moderately long, and was wearing simple black clothes, a gold watch on his wrist. The other was lanky and thin, with shorter black hair and bangs. He was in simple jeans and a t-shirt, and when the door opened a happy smile bloomed on his face.

"Hello! I'm Najakima Yuto! This is Keito, Okamoto Keito. We're your new neighbors!" The skinny guy, Yuto, announced. Yamada smiled, surprised by his enthusiasm.

"My name's Yamada Ryosuke. Please come in! Dai-chan is just finishing up dinner." Yamada stepped aside, letting them into their home, and Keito offered him a large chocolate cake as they stepped across the threshold. The other one, Yuto, explained.

"We thought we'd bring dessert!" Yamada grinned and thanked them, leading them to their little dining space. Daiki waved from across the counter and grinned, stirring and checking temperatures of things. The new neighbors waved back, smiling politely.

"Dinner will be ready in a few minutes, please, make yourselves comfortable." Daiki told them, and they thanked him, the room falling silent for a moment before Yamada broke it.

"So, what brings you two here? Work? School?" He took his seat at the dining table, the other two following his lead, and as they sat Yuto said

"I'm going to university here, I'll be starting next semester." So he'd be going to school with them.

"Does anyone want a drink? The two of us don't really drink much, but I think we have some sake somewhere..." Daiki offered, carrying the newly cooked food to the table. Yuto smiled, and thanked them for the offer, but declined saying

"I can't hold my liquor at all. It's rather embarrassing. Keito might take some—he's good at drinking." Daiki turned his gaze to Keito, and it was then that Yamada realized that the young man had yet to speak. His curiosity was piqued, and he was expecting a deep, powerful voice to come out of that strong, built frame. Keito blushed, and murmured

"None for me, thank you though Arioka-san." Yamada was completely taken by surprise. The guy's voice was soft and meek, quiet, and though not particularly high, Daiki's own voice was definitely lower. Daiki nodded, removing his apron and running his hands through his bangs. He leaned over, his nose only a few centimeters from Yamada's own, and said

"Could you fix my hair?" Yamada nodded, straightening Daiki's bangs and tucking a loose strand behind his ear. Daiki sat in his place at the table, and said

"Please, eat." Once food was in front of everyone, Daiki turned his attention back to Yuto.

"So you're going to school with the two of us, huh? What's your major?" Yuto smiled, announcing

"Teaching! I want to be a teacher." Daiki grinned at the lanky young man's enthusiasm.

"What age?"

"Middle school, preferably. But little kids are really cute too." Daiki nodded in agreement, and for a while the conversation consisted of stories of the cute antics of children, eventually switching over to Daiki's dream of being a chef. Throughout it Keito stayed quiet, and Yamada would have thought he had detached himself from the conversation, except that whenever he would so much as send half a glance Yuto's way, or murmur one word in that gentle voice of his, Yuto would incorporate him into the conversation, sometimes inserting an opinion of Keito's, or answering some question Yamada hadn't known had been asked, and when he would, afterward Keito would just send him the tiniest of smiles, but they would make Yuto beam. Their understanding of each other was frankly strange. After a bit it got to be so strange that Yamada turned his attention to Keito completely, hoping to get his own words out of him by asking

"So, Okamoto-kun, what are you going to do here? Are you going to university too?" Yuto glanced at Keito's face, obviously about to answer for him, but something different must have caught his eye, because he leaned back in his chair a bit, cocking his head a fraction to listen and Keito said

"I'm just becoming independent from my family. I'm not going to school for now." That was the last full sentence Keito said for the rest of the evening, Yamada deciding not to push for more information.

"So have you two known each other for long? Are you childhood friends or something?" Yamada asked, trying to understand how they were able to read each other’s body language so well. To his surprise, Yuto shook his head.

"Keito and I were pen pals I guess. We did pen pal assignments in middle school and that's how we found each other. We've been writing back and forth for a few years, but we didn't meet in person until maybe...seven weeks ago. Then when I told Keito I was going to move for university and I offered him a room. The next thing I know he shows up with his suitcase on my doorstep, and we came here!" He grinned, slinging a lanky arm across Keito's shoulders. "It kinda feels like we've been friends forever though." Keito smiled properly for the first time, his small eyes twinkling, and he settled under Yuto's arm, a tension he'd been holding in his body draining away.

They ate through the meal, and then the cake, and it was just after Keito had sent the tiniest of glances at the face of his watch that Yuto said

"Yeah, it is getting late, and we still need to unpack, you're right." And had announced that they really should be leaving, that Keito stood, bowing until he was bent over at almost a ninety degree angle, and he said

"Thank you very much for the delicious meal." Daiki was taken by surprise by the sudden formal thanks, but Yuto just started, as if he had forgotten something, and he said

"Yes, thank you. It was amazing, Daiki-kun, Yamada-kun. We really appreciate your hospitality." With that, and promises to stop by again soon, the two new neighbors left, the absence of Yuto's upbeat chatter, and the two larger bodies making the space seem emptier than usual. Yamada and Daiki barely had time to shut the door behind them when there was a knock and Yuto was back, an embarrassed little blush across his cheeks, and he said quickly

"Please excuse Keito. He's very self conscious around new people, and he's honestly very worried about making a bad impression. He really enjoyed the evening here a lot. I just—I didn't want you to get the wrong idea from his lack of participation in the conversation. He's really nervous about fitting in. Sorry. I just wanted to let you know." Yamada and Daiki nodded, and with a smile, Yuto returned to his own apartment, where after a moment there was a loud clatter, as if someone had tripped over a drum set. Yamada and Daiki shared a bemused glance.

"Thoughts?" Daiki asked, plopping down on the couch. Yamada smiled.

"I like them. Yuto-kun seems really nice." Daiki nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, he seems really happy go lucky, doesn't he? Easily pleased."

"Keito's kinda weird though." Yamada voiced, and Daiki frowned.

"He's just quiet. I don't think he's all that weird." Yamada shrugged. "Regardless, they'll be good people to be friends with, don't you think?"

"Sure, Dai-chan." Daiki patted the seat next to him on the couch, and Yamada curled up next to him, flicking on the television and catching the tail end of a drama before heading off to bed.


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning Yamada woke before Daiki, making them breakfast, trying to blink the sleep out of his eyes, Daiki trailing out of his room all hunched over and half awake just in time to see Yamada off. As soon as the door shut behind him, Yamada turned down the hallway to see Keito barreling down the hall toward him at full speed, Yuto on his back, squealing in excitement as Keito ran, his lanky arms wrapped around Keito's shoulders. Both had big grins on their faces, and they looked refreshed, dressed and wide awake, and Yamada checked his watch. It was barely past eight in the morning. What time did these guys get up? It took Keito a moment to register that Yamada was in his path, and he panicked, trying to stop, momentum and Yuto's extra weight causing him to lose his balance, and both crashed to the ground in a mess of limbs. Shocked, Yamada ran over. Keito was already pulling himself to his knees as he got there, hunched over Yuto, his eyes blown wide with worry.

"Yuto, are you okay? I'm so sorry, I'll be more careful next time." Yuto groaned a little, gripping at Keito's forearm and pulling himself up to a sitting position.

"Keito, it's okay. I'm fine, so don't worry about it." Yamada stood over them, and finally said

"So, are you guys alright?" They both looked up at him, nodding, a grin breaking out on Yuto's face.

"I'm sorry if we caused you any trouble, Yamada-san." Keito said, and Yamada just sighed in relief.

"Just...be careful, okay?" Both of them nodded, Keito standing and pulling Yuto to his feet, and satisfied that they were in fact uninjured, Yamada went on his way.

Over the next few days life didn't really change much. Yamada told all of his coworkers at the cafe about his new neighbors, Inoo declaring that he had to stop by soon and meet them. When he told Hikaru about them however, Hikaru just jokingly said

"See if either of them needs a job. We could use another pretty boy here. Or, Daiki. He's definitely cute enough." Yamada grinned at the thought of Daiki in their uniform, turning away from Hikaru as the door opened to welcome the new customers.

"Irasshaimase!" He called, putting on a cute grin. When he registered the two young men standing there just inside the doorframe however, his voice died in his throat. Yuto just blinked a few times, his brow furrowing a bit in confusion, and to Yamada's horror he said

"Yamada-kun?" Yamada turned back to Hikaru, panicking.

"It's them!"

"What?"

"My new neighbors! That's them!" Hikaru stared at him for a moment in disbelief.

"You can't be serious." Yamada glared up at him, and Hikaru hissed in disappointment. "Damn it."

While they were trying to figure out what to do, Yuto and Keito were taking matters into their own hands. They ignored Takaki's offer to find them a table, instead walking up to the counter, Keito tapping Yamada gently on the shoulder, and saying

"Excuse me, Yamada-san?" Hikaru gave him a quick I-don't-know-what-to-do-so-just-do-your-job look, and bearing himself, Yamada turned around, smiling cutely at them.

"I'm Ryo-chan! Please masters, let me find you a place to sit!" Nonplussed, they followed him to a table, taking their menus before Yuto said

"Yamada-kun, what's going on?" Yamada shushed him quickly, and hoping to stop the questions he whispered

"I'll explain everything tonight, over dinner. My place, okay?" As he was saying this Inoo made his way over, and with a grin and a flirty flick of his long hair he said

"Ryo-chan gets all of the cute masters, lucky girl! I'm Keiko-chan! What would you masters like today?" To Yamada's relief they both ordered quickly, and he and Inoo went to fetch them their treats, Inoo saying

"They're adorable, Yama-chan! Which one is the one that doesn't talk?" Yamada sighed.

"They both _talk,_ but the quiet one is that one." He gestured to Keito. When they came back to the table with the treats, Keito actually turned to Inoo, saying

"My grandmother's name was Keiko. She was an amazing woman; more powerful and intelligent than the fiercest of men. Her son—my father—named me after her. You have a good name." Inoo stared at him in surprise for a moment. Yamada too was taken aback. He'd never heard Keito volunteer so much information about himself.

"Thank you, master. I'm glad it pleases you." Inoo said, smiling, and with that they retreated from the table. Yamada watched from a distance as Yuto and Keito ate their cake, the two young men talking and giggling happily. How was he going to explain this one?

That night when Yuto and Keito showed up on their doorstep Yamada still wasn't quite sure how to explain to his neighbors that he was pretending to be a woman for his job, while convincing them that _no,_ he wasn't a transvestite, and asking them to keep it a secret. It seemed like an overwhelming task. But once they had sat down at the table he just launched into it, explaining how he had found himself in desperate need of a job, and how he had come to work at the Tea & Lace café. They would ask questions, and he answered as best he could, and by the end of the evening he found himself saying jokingly

"If either of you are in need of a job my boss said to offer a maid position to you two. He said you were definitely cute enough." Yuto just giggled, taking a sip from his cup, and he said

"This has been fun. We should do this regularly...how about every week we have dinner? We could switch off who cooks, or something. What do you think?" Liking the idea, Yamada and Daiki shared a look before nodding in agreement, Yuto and Daiki immediately chattering on about foods that they liked and didn't like, and working out how their weekly dinner would go. Keito meanwhile, leaned across the table, whispering

"We're you serious about that job offer, Yamada-san?" Yamada was surprised. _Was Keito asking to be a maid?_

"Uh...yeah. I mean, they were talking about hiring a new person, so if you'd like I could ask them to consider you." Keito nodded, scooting his chair closer so they could talk properly.

"I would appreciate that very much. Do you want my phone number, so that you can get in contact with me?"

"Yeah, sure." Yamada handed Keito his phone, watching as Keito put in his number. After a moment it was returned, Keito asking one last quick thing.

"Um, is there any way you could not tell Yuto I'm looking for a job? I want to surprise him." Yamada nodded, Keito thanked him again, and they rejoined the other two's conversation, not mentioning it for the rest of the night.

The next day after work before changing Yamada flounced into the kitchen, catching Hikaru and Yabu who had been side by side at the counter, prepping ingredients for the following morning's baking.

"Hey, do we need another maid, because I know someone that's interested." They both looked surprised at the statement, but they nodded.

"It's been getting hectic. We could use another. Who do you have in mind?"

"One of my new neighbors, Okamoto Keito said he wants the job." Hikaru's attention was caught.

"Which one was he? The cute one, or the one that was drumming on everything?" Yamada was perplexed by those descriptions of his neighbors, and Yabu scowled half-jokingly at his boyfriend.

"The cute one?" Hikaru immediately started backtracking.

"No! Not _cute_ but, just relatively cute. Cuter than some people! Not—not as cute as you, baby! You're the cutest." Yamada didn't want to have to be around through this mess Hikaru had just gotten himself into.

"He was the quieter one. Not the skinny one, the other guy. That one's Keito." Hikaru nodded in understanding.

"Is he the cute one?" Yabu asked, and Hikaru blanched.

"Just—tell him he can stop by for an interview at any point during our working hours this week, okay?" Yamada nodded, and with a quick glance to where Yabu was standing, arms crossed indignantly, he escaped the room, pulling his cell phone out of a pocket in his apron and sending a quick text to Keito, outlining what Hikaru had said. The reply was instantaneous.

_Thank you. I'll be by tomorrow._

Sure enough, the next day Keito came by, dressed up nicely and looking nervous. Yamada led him to the back office, where sure enough Yabu and Hikaru were sitting together, thankfully only looking over some paperwork. Yamada introduced them and returned to the cafe. Once Keito had left however, he went back, pestering Hikaru and Yabu.

"So?" He asked, and they grinned.

"He starts in a week. We've just got to get his uniform figured out." Hikaru told him. Yabu flashed a piece of paper in his face, saying

"I was thinking since he's a bit _less cute_ than the rest of you that perhaps he could be a bit more gothic looking. A longer and less poufy skirt, extensions, frilly cuffs for his wrists, and perhaps eyeliner..." He trailed off, getting back to his designs, and Hikaru turned to him, saying

"There was one strange thing. He asked if we could make sure his uniform covered all of his back. He didn't want any of his skin from his shoulders down to his waist to show." That was a strange request. Hikaru continued. "Not that that's going to be a problem, but do you happen to know the reasoning? Is he just really modest, or is there something else? I'm just curious." Yamada could only shrug.

"I can ask, his roommate may know." Hikaru nodded, and the topic was closed. That evening Yamada caught Yuto in their hallway, carrying groceries for dinner, and he popped the question.

"Um...about Keito-kun..." Yuto looked over at him and nodded, signaling for him to continue. "Is there something wrong with his back?" The inquiry took Yuto by surprise, and he stopped, turning to Yamada.

"Did you see it?" _What?_ Yuto got a pained look on his face. "Poor Keito was in a bad car crash a few years ago. He says he's got really bad scars from the wreck. He keeps his back all covered up. He won't even let me see them." Oh. Wow. Yamada told Hikaru what he'd heard the following day, and Hikaru nodded, sympathy on his features, and the matter was dropped.

The following Monday Yamada was fixing his knee high socks in the morning when—just as he had done when Yamada started—Yabu announced

"Everyone, this is Okamoto! Okamoto's maid name will be Momo-chan!" Yamada looked up to see Keito standing next to Yabu. His uniform was a bit different from the rest of them, as Yabu had mentioned. His skirt was longer and less poufy than theirs, his apron falling in the same manner. He however, had a corset that laced up in the front, creating and accentuating a slim feminine waist. He had been given _huge_ fake breasts, and Yamada found himself blushing in secondhand embarrassment. He had large cap sleeves that fell lower on his arms than theirs, hiding his broad shoulders, and he had hair extensions like Inoo and Takaki. Keito's extensions were long and strait, pitch black like his natural hair, which had been combed down, and honestly was rather cute. Yabu must have done his makeup; because he had on winged eyeliner and mascara, making his tiny cat shaped eyes look just a bit wider.

Honestly, the transformation was amazing. Keito looked like an anime character, and Yabu had managed the effect he had been going for. Keito wasn't as cute as the rest of them, but he sure was beautiful, his whole look a bit darker and less innocently girly than the rest of them. The breasts and the corset however, gave him curves, and added a sexy element that none of the rest of them quite had. Keito remained quiet, a blush spreading across his cheeks, and as they all introduced themselves he nodded politely to each of them. Once names had been exchanged Yabu said

"Yu-chan, I was hoping you could train Momo-chan. You two are the closest physically; I was thinking it would be a good match." Takaki nodded, and said

"Do I get one of those new uniforms too?" Yabu grinned.

"In time. I was thinking about making everyone custom uniforms, so you'd all be different! I could..." He rambled on excitedly, but Yamada stopped listening, instead he adjusted his headband and closed his locker, and with Inoo and Chinen he left to open the cafe for the day. Keito was hesitant and shy, but to Yamada's surprise the customers flirting didn't seem to fluster him in the slightest. But he never would flirt back. Perhaps he didn't like men. That would be a big shock; Yamada had never met a straight male that would ever consider working at a place like theirs, so he had simply assumed Keito wasn't.

As time passed and Keito got more comfortable it became apparent that it wasn't that Keito wasn't attracted to men, it was more like he only paid attention to one person—Yuto. Male, female, it didn't matter; if they weren't Yuto it was as if he barely noticed them at all. This came to light one afternoon about a week and a half after he began working with them. There was a lull in the flow of customers, only one table had people at it—a young man and woman, and Yamada and Chinen watched as Keito served them while fending off both of their advances. It was actually rather comical to see both of them flirting, the competitive tension between the two customers almost tangible, but Keito just smiled and served them professionally, bowing to them as they finally left.

"So, d'you have someone you're already emotionally attached to, Momo-chan?" Chinen asked once the door had shut behind them. Keito turned to look at him, confusion on his face, and for a moment he stood there, obviously trying to figure out what Chinen was talking about. He opened his mouth to ask when the door pulled open, Ryutaro walking in. He'd obviously come straight from school, his bag slung over his shoulder, his uniform still on. Chinen hopped around the counter with a prepared tray, hurrying over to the tall student with a large grin, immediately disregarding his previous conversation. Keito took Chinen's spot behind the counter, next to Yamada and he asked

"What did Yuri-chan mean, 'someone I'm already already attached to'? Keito asked. Yamada nodded over to Ryutaro, watching as Ryutaro fed Chinen the occasional bite of his cake, and said

"Something like that. She wanted to know if you like anyone, or have a boyfriend or girlfriend or something." Keito let his gaze wander to the two, a blush creeping over his face, and he swallowed self consciously. Yamada nudged him with his elbow, smirking.

"You do! Who—" suddenly, he realized who it _had_ to be. The only person he'd ever seen able make Keito be truly at ease. The person that supposedly upon their first meeting Keito had moved in with. _Yuto._ He felt the knowing, smug smirk growing on his lips, and he caught Keito's eye, the taller maid realizing he'd figured it out at once, his eyes widening in a panic.

"No! Don't—he doesn't—" Yamada cut him off.

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna tell him." Keito buried his face in his hands, the embarrassment at being figured out plain. "But what's the deal with you two?" Yamada asked. "Have you told him about you working yet? Momo-chan, why're you working in the first place?" Keito raised his head, looking surprised at the questions.

"I'm going to show him that I can support him all on my own. I want to prove that I can take care of him, and for that I need an income." He paused. "I still haven't told him, but I will! And when I do I'll already have saved up money to get him through school and pay the rent. And I've been watching Hikaru cook, so I can make food for him. Once I am finally an asset and not a burden I'll have reached my goal."

Yamada just stared, amazed by Keito's declarations.

"You've set yourself a high goal, haven't you?" He mumbled, but at that moment a new customer swept in, and Keito welcomed them with a grin, hurrying to serve them, the perfect picture of hard work. He always worked hard, picking up extra shifts and practicing his feminine mannerisms in the morning while the rest of them changed. Keito had a locker like the rest of them, but he never changed with them, always getting there really early and changing in the bathroom instead.


	7. Chapter 7

Yamada didn't really tell Daiki about Keito working with him; Keito had asked him to keep it a secret, and he knew Daiki and Yuto talked a lot. Still, he shared everything with his roommate, and it felt sneaky and unclean to be deliberately keeping anything from him. Daiki figured it out on his own one day when he stopped by the cafe for a lunchtime snack. He and Yamada were sitting at a little table chatting away about one of the history teacher’s toupee, and why strawberry jam was better than apple when Keito came out from the back, restocking their little display counter with freshly baked goodies. Daiki gawked, completely dropping their current topic and rounding on Yamada.

"That's Keito!" Yamada turned to look at their neighbor, nodding offhandedly, trying to play down Keito's appearance. Daiki frowned.

"He's working here?"

"Yeah." Yamada felt the dread rising in his stomach as he looked across the table at his best friend's face. Daiki was upset.

"How long?"

"Um...a month..." Yamada muttered, feeling the beginnings of the guilt he'd been ignoring claw at his stomach.

"You never told me." Yamada knew what was going through Daiki's head, knew his companion was surprised that Yamada had kept him in the dark about any detail of his life, especially something as obviously interesting as Keito's addition to the cafe. Yamada didn't know what to say. There was a heavy pause, Yamada searching for some magic words to make everything better. He couldn't think of any.

"I'm sorry." Daiki just nodded. "I didn't want to—he made me promise to keep it a secret!" Yamada said desperately. Daiki nodded again, silently getting to his feet.

"It's fine Yama-chan." He put some money down on the table. "I've gotta go." His parting smile was awkwardly stiff, and Yamada knew that whatever Daiki said, it wasn't okay. Sure, he hadn't lied to Daiki, but he'd deliberately kept something from him, and that wasn't what best friends do to each other. It wasn't what Daiki deserved. He felt horrible, regret at keeping Keito's job a secret and anger at himself for doing as Keito had asked and not telling anyone mixing in his stomach, and when Keito came over to take Daiki's old teacup to the back Yamada rounded on him, frustrated and upset.

"Look Keito, I don't care if you want to keep your job here a secret, but you can't be asking me to cover for you. It's not my job to keep Yuto in the dark about you, and you can't expect something like that from me. Daiki's mad at me, and it’s all because I did what you wanted! I'm done. If you don't want me to tell him, than just don't tell me anything, got it?!" He stood, and although he was much shorter than Keito he got in his face, and as he spoke Keito actually shrunk away from him, crouching down and cowering so that by the end of his monologue he was actually looking down at the bigger man. Yamada turned away, realizing he was being a bit irrational yelling at Keito, but still angry. From behind him Keito said

"Arioka-san is mad at you, because you didn't tell him about my job?" Yamada sighed, nodding.

"Yeah. We don't keep secrets from each other, so..." He trailed off, leaving the rest of his sentence implied. Keito nodded.

"I'll explain to him. I'll apologize." Yamada blinked at Keito in surprise. "It's my fault you're having troubles. I'm sorry." He bowed apologetically, his bangs hiding his face, and Yamada was taken aback by how regretful Keito honestly seemed.

"Thanks, I really appreciate that." He said, and Keito rose to his full stature, nodding a little.

Just as he'd offered, when they got off work Keito followed Yamada up to his apartment where Daiki was studying in the kitchen, the beginnings of a meal scattered around the countertop with his textbooks, his hair pinned out of his face, a pencil behind one tiny ear and an apron on. He looked adorable standing there, cooking distractedly as he went over his text, brows furrowed in concentration. For a moment he didn't notice that they had entered the room, too focused on what he was doing, until Keito said his name.

"Arioka-san." Daiki looked up, surprised at the voice, and Keito swallowed nervously once he realized he had Daiki's undivided attention. "Please don't be mad at Yamada-san!" He fell into a low bow. "It was all my fault; I made him promise not to tell anyone about my job! It was my selfishness that caused this. I saw how lovely your relationship was, and I hoped that one day I would be able to have a relationship as loving and caring as yours is, so I decided to secretly get a job to help support Yuto and myself on my own! It was inconsiderate of me to ask Yamada-san to keep my secret; he was only trying to do what I had asked of him, despite how much he didn't want to! Don't blame him, he is a good person, be mad at me—I take full responsibility." Daiki and Yamada were both stunned by the elaborate formal apology, and for a moment they just stared at Keito, who was still bent over, head bowed. Despite the surprising statement, the apologetic part wasn't what Yamada found the most important.

"Wait." He said, disbelieving. "Do you think that Dai-chan and I are a couple?" Now Keito glanced up at him in surprise.

"Of course—wait—you're not?!" Daiki's face had grown red, Yamada too feeling a blush creeping on his cheeks at the concept. Him and Daiki...he'd never even thought about that. Daiki shook his head violently, denying the statement at once.

"Yama-chan and I?! No! We've never—he'd never—" Yamada nodded in agreement.

"Dai-chan doesn't like me like that. We talk about guys all the time." Keito looked back and forth at their faces in disbelief before, nodding meekly and saying

"Sorry for the misunderstanding." Yamada nodded and Keito excused himself, leaving the two of them alone, staring awkwardly at each other.

"So...that was a mess." Daiki declared, lowering the heat on one of the stove burners. Yamada nodded, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose and feeling the tension rise again and hating it.

"Daiki, I really am very sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel upset, or inadequate in any way. I hated not telling you, but I had promised Keito that I'd keep his secret." Yamada paused. "I told him not to expect me to do that for him anymore. Any secret I can be expected to keep, you can too." Daiki looked up from the stove, a small smile on his face, and he nodded, and like that the tension was resolved, and Yamada understood that he'd been forgiven. They worked on the meal together, and as they cooked Daiki said

"Actually, this job thing makes a lot of sense. Yuto's been saying that Keito's not been around much lately." He shook his head and sighed. "Keito's little plan isn't really working. Yuto seems like he really misses him being around. I mean, they live together, but still..." He sighed, obviously still thinking hard on the matter. "I get the wanting to take care of someone you love thing, but I don't know that being away from them even if you're trying to financially support them, is the right answer." Yamada nodded, and Daiki pulled the ladle out of the soup he had been making, putting the edge to Yamada's lips and gently tipping the contents into his mouth. It was scalding hot, but it had a nice salty, hearty flavor, and Yamada hummed appreciatively.

"Does it need anything?" Daiki asked, and Yamada shook his head, his stomach growling in anticipation. Daiki grinned, turning back to the pot, leaning over it, his head bowed over it, and in that instant the pencil he had balanced behind his ear slipped, falling into the soup with a loud plopping noise. Daiki gasped, and Yamada just stared at the ripples radiating out from the point where the pencil had entered, stunned. Daiki plunged his hand into the soup, fishing for the writing utensil. Yamada's heart leapt in his throat, and Daiki withdrew his hand as soon as his flesh hit the broth, cursing in shock at the scalding hot water. Yamada immediately bopped him on the head in reflex, words tumbling from his lips.

"Don't hurt yourself, you idiot! Are you okay?! Oh my god!" Daiki's skin was already a bright pink, and he immediately thrust it into the sink, getting his hand under cool water. He muttered a few curses under his breath, and Yamada leaned over the sink, inspecting the damage when Daiki removed his hand from the stream coming from the faucet. Thankfully, although the skin was bright pink, it didn't look like it was blistering, and Yamada felt a small relief as he looked at Daiki's little hand, before digging some ice from their freezer and putting it into a pot, for Daiki to submerge his hand in. They left the pencil in the soup.

It was barely a week later, and Daiki was back at the cafe sitting and talking with Yamada as usual, his hand nearly as good as new, when all of a sudden a small young man pushes through the door and sprints across the length of the room, ducking behind the counter and into the back. Yamada and Daiki immediately followed him, and after one quick glance around at the empty tables Takaki was right on their heels, leaving Keito to tend to any new customers. The guy had collapsed just inside the doorway, and it only took a moment to recognize him.

"Chinen, what's going on?!" Chinen was sitting on the floor, a plastic shopping bag around one wrist, his breath heavy, chest heaving. He was in boy clothes, today had been his day off, and he looked up at them, eyes frantic.

"He saw me." Their small coworker grimaced, and he said "Ryu-chan did. I bumped into him at the shop. I ran as soon as I realized it was him, but..." He dug his nails into his palms, frustration and dread showing on his face. "I think he might've recognized me."

"Did he follow you?" Takaki asked, looking behind him, as if expecting Ryutaro to burst through the door. Chinen shrugged. He had caught his breath, and now he simply looked miserable.

"Wait, what's going on? Who did he run into? Ex-boyfriend or something?" Daiki had his brows furrowed in concern for Chinen, and Yamada quickly explained.

"There's this high school kid, Ryutaro—" Chinen interrupted him with a dirty look and said

"Ryu-chan's not just some high school kid." Yamada plowed on, taking no notice.

"Anyway, Chinen's crushing on him big time, but he refuses to make a move on this guy." Chinen huffed in frustration, glaring up at Yamada from the floor, and he said

"I'm telling you, he's not going to like me once he finds out that I'm a boy! It's not ever going to work out, okay?!" Yamada was saved from responding when the door was flung open, Keito slipping inside, his eyes wide, and he announced frantically

"Yuto's here!" Yamada couldn't believe it. This was ridiculous. Takaki however, was angry.

"And?! You just left the cafe unattended! You cannot just leave your job when something unanticipated happens." Keito glared a bit at Takaki, apologizing quickly but obviously rather annoyed. Yamada was surprised; he'd never seen Keito show signs of being angry. But there were more important things at hand. As Takaki had said, the cafe had been left unattended.

"I'll go out there and deal with Yuto. Keito, you and Chinen can hide in the back until the coast is clear. Takaki, you keep watch for Ryutaro-kun, okay?" There were nods, and together he and Takaki slipped back out into the cafe. Yuto was waiting, standing at the counter, looking around in confusion at the empty area. Yamada plastered on his best smile, saying

"Master Nakajima! So good to see you again!" Yuto giggled at Yamada's girly tone, and he said

"Yamada-kun, where is everyone?" Yamada led him to a table, wincing at the use of his real name, and he said

"I'm sorry Master Nakajima; my name is Ryo-chan! I don't know who Yamada-kun is." Yuto's eyes widened and he apologized, getting the hint. Yamada smiled sweetly at him, and answered his question. "We're having a staff meeting in the back hall." Yuto accepted the lie easily, ordering himself a scone and some tea, and when Yamada brought him his treats he ate quietly, looking a little dejected sitting there all by himself. Yamada did a quick sweep of the cafe, noting that the only other person was Takaki, standing by the door, and he slid into the seat across from Yuto.

"Why are you eating all by yourself Master Nakajima?" Yamada asked, and Yuto looked over at him, surprised by the company.

"Oh...I wanted to bring Keito, but he said he couldn't come..." He sighed. "Keito's never home anymore. He used to always be there, and I guess I got used to it...I dunno. I miss him a lot. I just want to know that someone, that _he_ likes being around me. I love being around him, and I'm just...it's kinda lonely. I just hope he's not sick of me." Yamada took pity on Yuto. The poor guy was assuming all of the wrong things. He wanted so badly to tell him. Tell him that he was wrong—he wasn't a bother, that Keito was away so much because he cared so much about Yuto that he wanted to pay for his university, and support Yuto, and make him happy. He struggled to keep the words from spilling out; instead he just said

"I bet Keito's only gone because it's really important. He seems to like you a lot." Yuto nodded, smiling a small smile.

"Thanks Ryo-chan."

That night Yamada and Keito walked home together, and Yamada told his neighbor what Yuto had said. Keito listened intently, frowning, his brows furrowing as Yamada talked. Once Yamada had explained how Yuto was feeling he nodded, saying

"Thank you, Yamada-san, for telling me all of these things. I'll have to tell him about my working soon. The last thing I want is to make him unhappy..." He trailed off, deep in thought, and they walked along in a comfortable silence until they reached their separate apartments. They quickly said their _good night'_s and went their separate ways, Yamada hoping that Keito and Yuto would clear things up soon. He himself found Daiki spread across the couch, a hot meal waiting on the table, and he sighed as he took off his shoes, glad to be home.


	8. Chapter 8

As Daiki looked up from his TV show and smiled at him he couldn't help but feel completely happy, and he set his bag down, grabbing his prepared plate and settling down next to Daiki on the couch. Daiki turned down the television, and while Yamada ate he made small talk, telling Yamada about his classes and speculating about Chinen's high school crush. Yamada would laugh at Daiki's funny stories, and even as the night grew later and Yamada finished eating they sat there on the couch, enjoying each other’s company, the muted television casting a bright artificial light over their little bodies. Finally it grew late, and Yamada was just about to say that he really needed to go to bed when he glanced at the TV—the news was on now—and felt a shock of disbelief run through his core like electricity. The reporter was talking, and next to him was a picture of none other than Chinen, obviously a high school yearbook picture.

"Dai-chan, turn it up." He said, grabbing for the remote. Daiki got there first, hastily increasing the volume.

"...still no news on the missing young man Chinen Yuri. Chinen-kun is the heir to the prominent furniture company Moriyume. He went missing almost six months ago, and private detectives have been working day and night to return the missing young man to his family. The search radius was been broadened to now include the Osaka and Fukushima areas. If you have any information regarding the missing Chinen-kun, please call the number on the bottom of your screen." Yamada and Daiki sat there in stunned silence as the report ended, before finally Yamada said

"Do you think...it's really him?" Daiki shrugged.

"Could be. I'm going to call Inoo, maybe he knows what's going on."

Although Daiki called Inoo three times throughout the course of the night, their friend never responded, and Yamada took to the Internet, pulling out his laptop and typing Chinen's name into the search engine. His search revealed scores of news articles about Chinen Yuri, the heir to the great furniture company Moriyume, based in downtown Tokyo. There were many pictures accompanying the articles of Chinen with people that were undeniably his family. He looked strikingly like a girl standing next to him, and the pictures made it undeniable—his friend and coworker was this lost heir.

When Yamada arrived at work the next day he found Yabu, Hikaru, and Keito all standing around in the dressing room, huddled in the center, and Hikaru had a phone to his ear, talking quickly, his voice high with tension and worry. Yamada joined the group, taking in the worry lines creasing everyone's brows, and said

"So, everyone saw the news report last night, right?" Yabu nodded.

"Hikaru's on the phone with Inoo now. It was his and Takaki's anniversary last night, so they missed the report. They just got home; they'd left Chinen alone for the night...apparently he saw it too, because he's gone missing." As he talked Hikaru hung up the phone, sighing and shoving the device into his pocket.

"What's the deal?" Keito asked, face stoic, a slight frown on his lips. He had already donned his maid persona, makeup and all, and he fiddled anxiously with the ruffles on his apron.

"Takaki and Inoo aren't coming in. They were frantic, and Takaki in particular sounded very upset, so I told them they'd get the day off to look for Chii. Hopefully they can find him, but...we're going to be really short staffed with three people out." Yabu frowned, obviously not particularly pleased, and said

"We can't do it with only two people serving all day. I don't want to ask them—" he nodded toward Yamada and Keito "—to do that. I mean..." he paused, obviously trying to make a quick decision. "I could stand in for the day. We'll still be two maids short."

"I could ask Yuto to come and help us today." Keito offered meekly, pulling his phone from his apron pocket. Yabu glanced over to Hikaru, his brow furrowed, concern in his eyes. Hikaru apparently understood the unspoken question.

"He could probably wear something of yours, Kota. You two are probably about the same size..." He turned to Keito. "Right?" Keito took Yabu in for a moment, then nodded.

"Okay. Call him. We need all the help we can get." Yabu declared, and Keito was on the phone with Yuto in moments, and though he had offered to ask he was visibly nervous, stiffening up when Yuto answered the call. Yamada sat down nearby, changing into his uniform as he tried to overhear as much of the conversation as possible.

"Hey Yuto." Keito swallowed, his eyes squeezing shut. "I'm out. That's actually why I'm calling, see...I know I've been gone too much, and I'm sorry—" He paused. "—I really miss you too. Really. I know, I've been home as much as I could, but it's still been hard...but Yuto...I got a job." He fell silent, tucking a chunk of his long, straight, black—fake—hair behind his ear in a way that was so inherently feminine it caught Yamada off guard as he slipped on his petticoat. Finally, Keito spoke again. "I wanted to try and support myself...and you. I thought perhaps if I got a job we could be independent of our families’ money, and you wouldn't have to worry about...things." There was a shorter pause. "Yamada-san's workplace." He nodded. "Yes." He took a deep breath, steeling himself, and he said "Actually, that's the thing...we have a favor to ask of you."

From that point Keito launched into a detailed explanation of their request, Yamada not really paying attention as he slipped the rest of his outfit on. He was just snapping his locker shut when Keito finished his call, and all three of them stood there, staring and waiting for him to speak. Keito slipped his phone back into his pocket, and he announced

"He said he'd do it. He's coming right now." Hikaru sighed in relief. "With four maids we can open today, right Kota?" He slung an arm around Yabu's shoulders, pulling him in and planting a kiss on his temple.

Yeah, we should be okay. Yuto can stick with me today....I need to go change, and find an outfit for your boy, Keito." Keito blushed a bit when Yabu referred to Yuto as his boy, and Yabu and Hikaru went upstairs, Yabu emerging fifteen minutes later in a pink, lacy maid outfit, and heavy makeup. He had another, black uniform like Yamada's on a hangar in his hand, and he was just laying it out on their bench when there was a knock on the staff entrance door, and Yamada opened it to reveal Yuto standing there, looking rather nervous. Yamada let him in, and Yuto stood there just inside the doorway, freezing at the sight of Keito. Keito too was frozen, standing with his arms to his sides, his blush growing as Yuto stared. Yabu only allowed this for a moment however, before he butted in and stole Yuto's attention.

"Nakajima-kun, so lovely to meet you, I'm Yabu Kota, co-owner of the cafe. Keito here tells us you can help out today." Yuto looked over Yabu in thinly veiled surprise, but he nodded not unwillingly, and let Yabu dress him in the outfit the skinny, pink clad man had chosen for him, bra, wig and all, and they got to work, opening only five minutes late despite the upsets in the agenda.

Yuto was a natural. Yabu had him watch once, and then he let Yuto serve on his own, watching appreciatively as Yuto led customers to tables and chatted with them, always smiling. Keito visibly avoided looking Yuto's direction, but occasionally they would meet eyes across the cafe and grin at each other, and Yamada would have to hold back the urge to pull the two of them into a corner and force them to kiss. They were so in love it was stupid.

The cafe got on quite well, despite being short one person and they settled into a routine rather quickly, the hours passing in a rush of people. Despite that, Hikaru and Yabu decided that with everything that had happened they should shorten the hours, so they closed two hours early, Yabu locking the door with an audible click. There was a unified sigh of relief from all of them, but it was short lived, as mere moments later there was a pounding on the door. It was Ryutaro, still in his school uniform, his hair windswept and his chest heaving, looking as if he'd just run a marathon. They all just stared, surprised for a moment as Ryu knocked forcibly on the glass before Hikaru said

"That's Chinen's boy isn't it? Kota, we should probably let him in. We don't need a scene." Yabu sighed, staring back at his lover.

"You're just a sucker Hika." But he fished his keys out of a lacy pocket and unlocked the door, letting Ryutaro in. The high schooler tumbled through the door, and with a quick nod of gratitude to Yabu said

"Yuri-chan?!" He took a gulp of air. "Where—where is she?" Yuto sent a wide eyed, nervous glance to the rest of them, obviously confused. To Yamada's surprise, it was Keito who answered Ryutaro's question.

"Yuri's not here." Ryutaro frowned.

"I _need_ to talk to her. I have questions that need to be answered." He dug in his pocket, pulling out a crumpled piece of paper. "She's supposed to work today! She gave me her—" he unfolded it, showing it to them. "Her schedule. She does it every week. She writes down when she works for me."

"Well, she didn't come in today. We're sorry, but we cannot help you." Hikaru told him, looking up at the high school kid. Ryu frowned, tucking Chinen's schedule back into his pocket, but not actually leaving. He still seemed frantic, determined to get answers, and he said

"I saw, on the news last night there was a—" he paused, looking for the words. "—missing person report. And it was, it looked just like her...but it couldn't have been her, could it? Just because they look alike, and have the same first name—" he swallowed anxiously, his hands clenching and unclenching. "It couldn't be her...she's a girl anyway. I know it couldn't, but they looked so alike—I had to come and see her." He was trying to convince himself, but it was obvious he wasn't fooled. He could tell that something was wrong. Yamada felt rather sympathetic for the poor guy, and as he glanced around the room at his coworkers faces, it was obvious that they too were feeling rather empathetic with his plight. "Something is wrong. Tell me what it is. This affects me too; I deserve to know." Ryutaro pushed, and Yabu sighed.

"Fine. But you need to understand one thing." He grew serious, and it would have probably been more menacing if he wasn't it a pink costume covered in lace. "If you try and threaten our cafe, or move to expose how we run our operation, you will receive a warning. If you chose to continue your actions will force you to be eliminated. Do you understand?"

Ryutaro stared at him for a moment, taken aback, not quite sure if Yabu was being serious. Finally, he nodded. Both Keito and Yuto sent questioning glances to Yamada, not understanding the grounds on which Yabu could make that threat. Yamada leaned back, whispering to them as Yabu once again locked the door.

"They've got a yakuza friend. I think he's saying that the friend would do something." Yuto's eyes went wide, staring over at Hikaru and Yabu in shock, and Keito's whole body stiffened. Yamada continued "He seemed nice enough. He came by once, but he apparently only comes by maybe once a year, so we probably won't see him. I wouldn't worry about it." Hikaru and Yabu ushered Ryutaro back into the bowels of the building, leading him to the locker room, and sitting him down, Yamada and the others following along. Ryu sat down quietly on one of the benches, and after a pause Hikaru began to explain.

"Ryutaro-kun, before we get into the specifics about Chinen there is something you need to know. Our cafe is unique in our hiring policies. Each and every one of the maids that work here are required one special trait that is never revealed to the customers. They must have this trait because we—" Hikaru pulled Yabu close to him, wrapping his arm around his lover's waist. "—wanted to be able to offer positions to those that were in desperate need of work. The trait all of our maids share is that they all are actually men." There was a silence, all of them standing around Ryutaro, waiting for a reaction, watching the information sink in.

"What're you saying? That Yuri-chan's a boy?! Have you looked at her? She's the most beautiful girl I've ever seen..." Ryutaro was indignant, and a strain in his voice rang with fear and doubt. Hikaru however, simply nodded.

"Yuri-chan's real name is Chinen Yuri. He has been working for us for a few months now, and living with two of our other maids, Keiko-chan and Yu-chan. Last night he ran away from their home, and none of us have seen or heard for him since. He's not answering his phone. It appears the evening news report scared him into fleeing. Unfortunately since we can't get in contact with him, we can only assume he is the missing young man they had mentioned. They do share the same name, and the physical similarities are uncanny." Yabu chimed in with one last bit of information, as Ryutaro stared at them in disbelief.

"One thing we do know for sure Ryutaro-kun, is that he loved you a great deal. He would be glad to know you were so concerned for him." They all fell into silence, and Ryutaro seemed numb as he slowly got on his feet.

"You—you're lying." The high schooler stared around at them all, glaring at them. Yuto cowered a bit behind Keito, but then Ryu's tone shifted, and he sounded very sad. "It can't be true. You have to be wrong." His voice hardened. "You're wrong." With that he slung his bag over his shoulder and took off, out of the cafe. As he left Yamada got the feeling he wouldn't be seeing the kid again for a long time.

He was right. In the days that followed Ryutaro did not come to the cafe. Takaki and Inoo came back to work the next day, despite never having found Chinen. The little boy had simply disappeared. Takaki told them that he had even left most of his things, the only items missing a backpack and some clothes and food, leaving behind most of his wardrobe. Interestingly enough, his cell phone was gone, but none of their texts got any response, and their calls rung out, leaving them with nothing. Both Takaki and Inoo were distressed by Chinen's absence, and they were quieter than usual, leaving work quickly every night to search for the small boy.

Yamada too would occasionally wander the streets, taking the longest possible route to his destinations when he had the time, searching the strangers on the street for Chinen's familiar frame. He didn't know what he would do if he saw him. Yamada already wasn't sure if he should have reported Chinen to the police. Chinen didn't ever seem like he was in a place where he needed outside intervention in his life, but at the same time Yamada was sure his family would be very worried about him. Daiki asked if there had been any news every day after Yamada had gotten home from work, and Yamada knew his roommate sat up in his room, comforting Inoo over the phone as their friend cried and fretted. Poor Inoo was acting as if his own child had disappeared.

Keito too was shaken up, but instead of crying or wandering the streets he just seemed to draw into himself even more. He talked even less, and he often lost himself in puddles of thought, having to be pulled out of his own mind by a sharp word or a loud noise. Keito was so sidetracked in fact, that he would trip over nearly anything, and Yamada began to think that Keito was going to seriously injure himself by falling down their apartment building stairs or something equally as awful.


	9. Chapter 9

Yuto and Keito had Daiki and Yamada over to their apartment for dinner a few weeks after Chinen's disappearance. It was the first time having been to their apartment, and Yamada hadn't really known what to expect. To his surprise, it was a lot like his apartment with Daiki. The differences were simply in the decor, and the furniture's arrangement. There were very traditional looking scrolls hanging on the walls with encouraging phrases on them, things Yuto told them proudly that Keito had made himself.

Yamada could clearly see that aside from those scrolls, Keito had let Yuto decide what to do with the place; there were brightly colored, slightly mismatched pieces of furniture scattered throughout the interior, and wedged into one corner was a drum set, cymbals and all. Yuto grinned proudly when Daiki asked about the drums, explaining that they were his, and he often practiced when he knew they weren't home, so as to make sure they weren't bothered by the noise.

While Yuto gave the tour, Keito was busy in the kitchen, and once he had announced dinner ready they all sat to find a very traditional Japanese meal waiting for them. Yamada hadn't been expecting Keito to be so full of culture. Honestly if anything he would have been more prepared to simply order a pizza or something. That wasn't to say that the food wasn't good, it was, and Daiki asked Keito a lot of questions about how he prepared the food, his curiosity as a chef taking over. They talked a lot about food, Yuto explaining that they never ate seafood simply because Keito didn't like any fish or prawns or anything that came from the ocean. Their discussion eventually traveled away from food to discussing school and work, and in that Chinen. He still hadn't shown up, and there had been a few more missing person reports about it since he'd disappeared from their own lives.

They finished their meal and moved the conversation into the living room, where the chatter continued, Yamada losing focus of the conversation, his head resting on Daiki's warm shoulder, and the next thing he knew he was being poked hard in the cheek by an insistent finger. He opened his eyes, and when he saw Daiki peering down at him he snuggled closer, shifting and curling his fingers into Daiki's shirt, ready to fall right back to sleep. But then Daiki spoke, his whole body resonating with it as he said

"Yama-chan, we need to go home." Yamada groaned in protest, but then Daiki moved as if to stand, dislodging his head from its perfect little spot on Daiki's shoulder, and he was forced to move, Daiki ushering him to his feet, and with many thanks to Yuto and Keito they left, Daiki allowing him to piggy back instead of walk the short distance to their apartment, and he carried Yamada into his bedroom, dropping him bodily onto his own bed, and murmuring a quiet

"Good night Yama-chan." Yamada was asleep again before Daiki even made it out of the room.

Time passed and everything more or less settled down. Chinen was still missing, and they'd all accepted that Ryutaro was not going to come back. They got on fine without the one extra maid at the cafe, and their routines started to become usual again. Yuto now accompanied Daiki on his weekly visits to the cafe, and Yamada began to really grow attached to his two next door neighbors. The better he got to know them the more he liked them, and now that the only secret left was that they both were secretly madly in love with one another, he was much less anxious about spending time with them. It was morning, right after the usual breakfast crowd had left, the whole cafe empty except for the maids, when five young men walked in.

Yamada was immediately put on edge by these guys. They just _looked_ like bad news. They had dyed, crazy colored hair, baggy clothes, and bruised, mean looking faces. In their hands a few gripped baseball bats and none of them were smiling. They barely looked at the maids, where most of the men that come in usually can barely tear their eyes away. They were after all, the main attraction. There was a palpable tension in the air, everyone waiting to see what would happen. It was Takaki who decided to step up, and he did so, his long brown extensions bouncing as he said

"Welcome masters! If you'll come right this way I'll find you a lovely place to sit! Will it just be the five of you?" The man in the center of the pack stared at him for a moment, before casting a look to his companions, and as if understanding some telepathic message, one each flanked Takaki, grabbing him by the arm in a menacing fashion. Yamada immediately felt fear set in. What were these guys planning in doing?! Inoo let out a panicked squeal.

"No!" One to the guys swung his bat into the glass countertop they kept samples in, shattering it, glass pieces flying everywhere.

"Shut up, girly." The man growled.

"No, you shut up, you fucking maggot." Yamada felt a bolt to pure disbelief run through him at the words. At the voice. Keito?! Yabu and Hikaru ran in at the sound of the shattering glass, just as Yamada whipped his head around, and he could barely believe his eyes. His neighbor was standing there, still in his maid attire, makeup, fake breasts and all, but he had a pistol in his hand, and a hard look on his face. The ruffians all froze at the sight of the weapon, and one of them asked

"Wh-what are you, a cop?" Keito frowned.

"No. I'm much worse." He glanced over at Takaki. "I don't want to have to shoot you in front of my friends, so please drop your weapons, release my coworker, and leave. Now." He flicked off the safety, but the additional threat was unnecessary. The men were already dropping their bats and practically running from the shop. Within seconds they were alone.

Inoo immediately rushed to Takaki's side, checking him over, worried noises coming from his mouth. Yamada however, couldn't tear his eyes away from Keito. The young man lowered the gun, flicking the safety back on and cursed, collapsing into a chair, and tossing his weapon onto the table he was sitting at. Hikaru took one sweeping look at the room—shattered glass everywhere, baseball bats on the floor, and a handgun on a table—and he crossed the length of the cafe and turned the sign on the door from 'open' to 'closed'. Yamada couldn't bring himself to speak or move, and he could still feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins. Hikaru turned back into the room.

"Is everyone okay?" He asked. They all nodded meekly, Keito just sighing, not looking at any of them. Yabu turned to Keito, saying

"Put the gun away, please." Keito looks at the weapon, as if surprised that it would bother any of them, but he picks it back up, hiking up his skirt to reveal a holster strapped to his leg, and he secures it there before saying

"Sorry." Once the gun was put away Yamada felt some of the tension leave the room, and he himself felt a little jelly legged. Yabu and Hikaru both made their way to Keito's table, and they sat down with him, looking very serious. Takaki too pulled away from Inoo's hands and turned his attention to Keito.

"Explain." Hikaru's demand was firm, but not harsh or cruel. Keito nodded, and he reached up with his left hand to his right shoulder, peeling away some of the fabric and leaning so that they could all see. There, etched into his skin was a family crest, in thick black ink. At the sight of it Yabu and Hikaru exchanged glances.

"Hold on a second!" Yabu said, leaping from his chair and bounding out of the cafe, into the private areas where he and Hikaru lived. They all watched him go, and Keito covered his tattoo back up, looking confusedly at Hikaru. The older man just shrugged. They didn't have to wait long. In less than a minute Yabu was back, brandishing a piece of paper and a photograph.

"Wait, Keito! This crest, it's the same, isn't it?" Yabu placed the letter he had been holding on the table in front of Keito. He barely had to glance at the crest at the bottom of the page before he nodded.

"It's the same." Hikaru seemed to understand what Yabu was getting at, and he let out a little gasp, looking at Keito in a strange fashion. Yabu kept the picture close to him, and he said

"Okay Keito, what's the story?" Keito folded his hands neatly in from of him, and began.

"I come from a family of Yakuza. I was born into the Okamoto clan. I am the fourth generation of the Okamoto family, and the only heir to my father's position as the head of the group. My parents divorced when I was young due to a disagreement about my future, but my father got custody of me, and I have lived with him ever since. The yakuza way of life became who I was. But right around that same time period I began to exchange letters with another boy my age at school. His name was Yuto.

"We became very close, and as we shared our lives through our letters I became very fond of my pen pal. It was only after a few years that we exchanged pictures or phone numbers, and as our communication became more frequent I began to realize that my fondness had grown beyond friendship and I had fallen in love with my friend. But I never told him about my family, or who I really was. I never thought we would ever meet in person. Then, earlier this year I got a text from Yuto asking if I wanted to live with him, and I couldn't resist the chance. I ran away from my father's house and met Yuto. He's been better than I had hoped. My goal was to keep living discreetly, hiding my past and becoming a normal citizen, so I took a job here. And that's about it." There was a moment of silence, and then Yabu passed Keito the picture he had kept in his hand.

"Keito, do you know this man?" Keito took the photograph, frowning in confusion at its sleek surface.

"Of course. He...he's my caretaker. He was the closest thing I had to a brother in my father's house. But how do you know Shoon Aniki?" Hikaru disregarded the question, saying instead

"Keito, Shoon came by looking for a kid like you. A young man, tallish, with thick black hair. But the person he was looking for supposedly had a full back tattoo. You said you were in a car accident, right? That's why you keep your back covered, isn't it?" Keito was blushing, looking guilty, and he shook his head.

"No." He reached back, unzipping the top little portion of his uniform, and he turned around. Peeking through the gap was unmistakably a chunk of a much larger tattoo than the one on his shoulder, and as soon as he was sure his point and been made Keito rezipped his uniform, hiding it from view. Yabu and Hikaru shared a look, Keito's words and actions confirming their suspicions. Yamada understood, and he was blown away by what was being implied. Keito was the kid. He was the person that Yabu and Hikaru's friend had been searching for when he'd stopped by the cafe months ago.

"Shoon is a good friend of ours. We've known him since we were in elementary school. He came by a few months back, searching for you." Hikaru told Keito. He paused, folding his hands on the table top in front of him. "You know he was punished." That caught Keito's attention, his head whipping up from the photograph to stare at Hikaru. "I guess your father wasn't too happy about you giving him the slip. He was missing a finger when he came to visit us. And, apparently he's not allowed to return until you've been found." Keito cursed under his breath, one hand clenching in frustration, and Yamada was struck with how completely different Keito was, now that his identity had been revealed. He was allowing them to see another side of himself, and he was more dangerous, more confident, and he seemed not unlike a lion in that moment.

"Look Keito, we're going to need to talk about this. We need to think this whole thing through, okay?" Yabu had taken Hikaru's hand, and together they stood, going into the back and closing themselves in the kitchen. Keito looked down at the picture of Shoon, setting it down gently on the table.

"You all said you'd met Shoon Aniki, right? Did he really have a missing finger?" Inoo nodded, and Takaki gave a grunt of confirmation, and Keito looked truly upset by the news, staring down at his own hands.

"Keito...you said Yuto doesn’t know about your family? You said you'd been pen pals for years. And you ever mentioned it to him?" Yamada had a sinking feeling as he asked the question, remembering the way that Yuto had said once that Keito refused to show him his back. Keito shook his head, his long fake hair swishing back and forth as his shoulders slumped even more. Oh. Well that could be an issue in the whole getting Yuto to fall in love with him plan Keito had devised. There was a moment of silence, and then suddenly Keito stood.

"Guys, I'm very sorry. I didn't mean to make anyone uncomfortable, and I know I may have scared you with my gun, and I lied, so if you all hate me I completely understand. It is completely justified. I'm sorry." He finished his little speech and bowed, his bangs falling in his eyes, and he held the bow until Takaki reached over and physically pulled him upright.

"Keito, I was part of a biker gang in high school. I know it’s not the same thing, but Kei and I aren't going to judge you because of where you come from." He turned to Inoo, tucking an arm around his tiny waist and sending his boyfriend a flirty look. "Besides, Kei likes the bad boys, don't you sugar?" Yamada was a little embarrassed, but Inoo just giggled, rolling his eyes a bit. Yamada was about to chime in when Hikaru and Yabu returned, looking very serious. They joined the group and everyone grew quiet, waiting to hear what they had to say. It was Yabu that spoke.

"Keito, we like you a lot. We think you're wonderful, and you've always worked hard for us, and it doesn't really bother us that you come from a mob background. However, what does concern us is that while you seem determined to give them up, the mob doesn't seem ready to give you up. We don't want to be responsible for someone from your clan coming here and hurting one of these guys or ourselves because we were knowingly harboring their runaway prince. I'm sorry, but we're going to have to ask you to go, and honestly, we really would like to let Shoon know where you are. He's really concerned about you, and he's having a very rough time of it out on his own." Yamada felt himself growing upset. Keito deserved better than to be cast out! Logically, he knew that the decision was the only one Hikaru and Yabu could have made, but it still seemed wrong somehow. Keito however, nodded.

"I understand. I'll resign and return to my family. Thank you for everything you've done for me. All of you. It means the world to me. I do have one last request, if that's alright. I want twenty-four hours to pack my belongings and try to explain things to Yuto. Just give me one day to say my farewell before calling Shoon Aniki. Please." Hikaru and Yabu shared a look, and then Hikaru nodded.

"Okay." Keito stopped into another deep bow.

"Thank you very much."


	10. Chapter 10

The rest of the evening was spent cleaning up the destroyed countertop, sweeping and vacuuming multiple times until they were sure all of the glass had been picked up. Once that task was finished Keito and Yamada left together heading back home. It had grown dark, night setting in, and as they walked Yamada asked Keito about his life before he'd run off, and Keito told him wild, exciting stories of turf fights and blackmail and gambling, and Yamada listened in awe until they found themselves facing their apartment doors. They both quieted, and it was understood that this was goodbye. Keito looked positively terrified of walking into his own apartment, and he stared at the door as if it had personally offended him. Yamada felt sadness wash over him. He was going to miss Keito.

Before he could talk himself out of it he reached out, wrapping Keito in a hug, and to his surprise Keito reciprocated, pulling Yamada tightly to his chest, his arms strong, his grip so tight that for a second Yamada couldn't breathe. When Yamada finally pulled back Keito was smiling, and Yamada said

"Good luck, Keito."

"Thank you, Yamada-san." Yamada shook his head.

"Call me Yama-chan." Keito nodded.

"Yama-chan." Yamada nodded in confirmation, and he pushed the door to his own apartment open, not able to stand it any longer, leaving Keito standing there. He slammed the door behind him, pressing up against it and groaning. At the noise Daiki emerged from his room, and when he caught sight of Yamada he immediately frowned in concern.

"What's wrong?" Yamada slipped off his shoes, and Daiki drew closer, Yamada throwing himself into his best friend's open arms, letting himself show just how distressing he found the events of the day. "Ryosuke?!" Daiki was starting to sound seriously alarmed.

"Sorry. It's just...it's been a crazy day." His stomach growled, and then it hit him just how starving he was. Daiki heard it as well, and he said

"Tell me what happened while I make you something to eat." Yamada nodded, a smile of gratitude growing on his lips.

"Thanks. You're the best Dai-chan. I don't know what I'd do without you." Daiki got to work in the kitchen, and Yamada proceeded to tell Daiki everything that had happened, leaving nothing out. Daiki gasped and asked questions, the perfect listener throughout his telling of the events. This lasted until Daiki placed a piping hot plate of food in front of him.

"Curry rice." Was all Daiki managed to say before Yamada dug in. It was piping hot, and it tasted absolutely amazing. He smiled down at his plate.

"This is so good I could kiss you." He announced, and a flaming blush spread across Daiki's cheeks. Yamada cleared his plate in a matter of minutes, and he had seconds and thirds before he was full, setting his spoon down. While he had been eating Daiki had asked some questions, but he had for the most part left them unanswered, focusing his attention instead to his food. Once all of the questions were answered, and Yamada's stomach was filled, Daiki too looked rather sad.

"Poor Keito. He's going to go back to his dad's house? We'll never see him again. He may never see Yuto again." Yamada nodded.

"He said he was going to try and explain things to Yuto, but..." Daiki sighed, understanding.

"Yeah, I don't see that going very well for him."

Their prediction seemed to prove true as the next morning Yamada was awakened with the sound of a door slamming. It was dawn, the sun barely peeking out above the horizon, and it was still a little bit dark outside, but he rushed to the window, where sure enough he saw Keito carrying a suitcase down the stairs. Keito was shirtless, and Yamada got to see the tattoo. It was immense, covering his whole back and shoulders, a large hanya mask surrounded by sakura, the eyes fierce, horns demonic. It was awe inspiring, beautiful and terrifying. Yamada watched as Keito got into a taxi that was waiting for him, and just like that he was gone.

Yamada wandered into Daiki's room, seeking comfort, and when he found his friend still asleep he just got into bed next to him, snuggling down under the covers. Daiki woke momentarily, but he didn't ask questions, just scooting over to make room for Yamada, wrapping an arm around Yamada's back and pulling him close before falling right back to sleep. It wasn't long before Yamada was asleep with him.

Yamada woke with a start to Daiki's alarm blaring in his ear. He became aware all of a sudden of Daiki's body in the bed with him. Daiki had tucked his head right up in Yamada's neck, one of his legs tangled in Yamada's own, and at the sound of the alarm he groaned, reaching across Yamada's chest to slap at the buttons on the top of his clock. After managing to get the device to shut up he yawned, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes cutely with one hand, before opening them, catching sight of Yamada and giving him a confused look.

"Yama-chan, what're you doing in my bed?" He didn't seem bothered by it, and he didn't move to get away from Yamada, he just looked bewildered. Yamada however, had just caught sight of the time, and he bolted up, flinging the covers off of himself.

"I'm late! Crap!" He was too. He should have been up half an hour ago.

"What's going on?" Daiki asked, blearily pulling himself to a sitting position, watching from his doorway as Yamada ran back and forth across their apartment, putting on clothes and brushing his teeth and trying to get ready for the day as quickly as possible.

"Sorry! I'm going to be late for work! I'll see you later Dai-chan!" Yamada called, shoving his glasses on his face and running out of the apartment, taking the distance from their building to the cafe at a jog, checking the clock on his phone. He was going to make it.

He managed to get there only a few minutes later than usual, and he quickly changed, surprised to find that none of his coworkers were in the changing room. He went looking, and after a moment he found Takaki and Inoo with their ears pressed up against Hikaru and Yabu's office door, and he looked at them confusedly.

"What're you doing?" Inoo waved him over, whispering

"There's people here!" Yamada was confused, but he crouched down by the door with them.

"People?"

"Some big guys in suits. We think they're—" Inoo was cut off by Takaki shushing him, and he just rolled his eyes at his boyfriend, dropping into a quieter whisper. "—here for information about Chinen." Curiosity piqued Yamada pressed his ear against the door, and he could barely make out what was being said. It was obviously Yabu talking, but he couldn't make out what it was he had said. Yabu's words were met with a gruff sounding, unfamiliar voice, Hikaru responding to the stranger, and so on. It continued this way for a few minutes, before there was the sound of footsteps, and they all pulled away from the door as quickly as possible, tripping over each other in a rush to not be discovered. They hid around a corner, and sure enough two large, amazingly tall men in black suits exited the office, Yabu and Hikaru politely showing them out.

"Who were they? What did they want?" Inoo asked immediately. Yamada looked over at him, surprised. No beating around the bush then.

"They were looking for Chinen. They're private security or bodyguards or detectives or something. They work for his dad's company." Takaki frowned, his concern for the small young man evident.

"I'm gonna text him. Tell him they're here." He declared. Yamada was surprised.

"What's that going to do? He hasn't responded to anything we've sent him. Does he even receive the texts?" Takaki shrugged.

"What else can I do?" Yabu sighed, and Hikaru ran a hand through his partner's hair, playing comfortingly with the hair at the base of his neck.

"Let's just open up, okay?" He said, and they all prepared the cafe, throwing a white table cloth over the broken countertop to hide the damage, and they got to work. Hikaru hadn't had any time in the early hours to bake as he usually did, due to the men in suits stopping by, and as consequence Yabu stayed in the kitchen with him to help speed things along during the morning, leaving only three maids to run the front.

It was busy, Yamada not having any time to rest as he constantly took customers orders and checked in with people. It was a relief when the busy breakfast hours ended, and the cafe emptied. They took that time to clean up any messes left by the morning’s customers, Inoo and Takaki washing down tables and wiping chairs as Yamada swept. It was then that the door was pulled open, and Yamada looked up to see Ryutaro of all people enter the cafe.

The high school boy looked a little uncomfortable as his eyes swept the cafe, and they all just kind of stared at him for a moment before Takaki said

"Is there anything we can help you with?" Ryutaro looked over at Takaki, as if wishing he would just disappear, and he took a few tentative steps into the room, still craning his neck to look all around the cafe.

"Is anyone else here?" He asked, and they all shared confused looks. What the heck did Ryutaro want? Why was he here?

"Um, the owners are in the back..." Yamada offered.

"Any other customers or anything?" Ryu asked. Inoo shook his head, and Ryutaro nodded.

"Okay. Bye." _What the heck?_

"Hey! Wait!" Takaki grabbed Ryutaro's arm as the teen turned to leave. "I texted Chinen a few hours ago about some guys sniffing around here, and now you show up for the first time in weeks, asking weird questions. You don't happen to know where he is, do you?" Ryutaro froze, his eyes going wide, and his silence confirmed Takaki's suspicions. Inoo squealed in excitement.

"Oh where is he? Where is he? We have to see him! Is he okay? Tell me he's okay. Does he need anything? We can send him anything he needs—" Ryutaro turned back around to face them, cutting Inoo's rush of questions short.

"He's fine. He doesn't need anything. He's been...he's been living with my family and I for the past few weeks."

"He's living with you?" Takaki asked, shocked. Ryutaro nodded. Takaki frowned. "Bring him by today after we close. We have to speak to him." Ryutaro frowned, and shook his head.

"It's not safe."

"Yes it is, those people won't be coming back here, not today anyway. It's probably the safest place for a meeting. They won't be looking someplace they already looked." Takaki reasoned. Ryutaro fell into silence, considering Takaki's proposition, and Inoo's wide, watery eyes. He sighed.

"Fine. We'll come around the back." He said, and with that he was gone.

Inoo threw his arms around Takaki's neck, and Takaki lifted him off the ground, twirling him, their skirts poufing out around them as they spun.

"This is so exciting!" Inoo announced, and Yamada couldn't help but agree. He'd never have thought they'd see Chinen again, yet here they were, anticipating being reunited with him that afternoon. He was looking forward to it. He'd missed the little guy.

As Ryutaro had promised, after the cafe had closed for the evening there was a knock on the back door. They were all still in the middle of changing out of their maid uniforms, but Takaki leapt for the door as Yamada quickly tried to pull on his pants. The door was pulled open and Ryutaro stood there, not looking very happy about his location. His left hand was grasping tightly to another, smaller hand, and then Chinen's big brown eyes peaked out from around his body.

"Chinen!" Takaki exclaimed in delight, and the tiny man threw himself into Takaki's arms. Takaki physically lifted Chinen off of his feet, pulling him close. Chinen wrapped his legs around Takaki's torso for balance, clinging like a monkey to the brunette. After a moment Inoo poked at his boyfriend's shoulder.

"Oi! Share!" Takaki grunted, not letting go, but Chinen released his grip around Takaki's neck to latch onto Inoo, and Inoo slowly pulled him out of Takaki's arms, cradling him like he was made of spun sugar. Once the two of them were satisfied, Chinen turned his attention to Yamada, and Yamada found himself amazingly happy to be on the receiving end of that smile, and when Chinen hugged him he grip the smaller boy tight, feeling his frame under his arms. It was so good to have such good friends. Once they finally pulled apart, they all sat in a ring on the floor, and finally Chinen spoke.

"Hi." Everyone was smiling, taking each other in. Ryutaro had joined them on the floor, sitting squished up against Chinen's side, one arm slung over the smaller boy's shoulders.

"What have you been up to? What's been going on with you?" Inoo asked, and Chinen proceeded to tell them about how he saw the news report announcing him as a missing person by chance, and decided to make his escape. Apparently he had taken refuge in cheap manga cafes, living off of vending machine breads, and hopping from one to the next every night. He did this for nearly two weeks before Ryutaro had found him, insisting that he come and live with him in his family's home. When Chinen got to that part of the story he looked over at the high school kid's face, grinning, and Ryutaro blushed.

"At first I protested, but Ryu-chan was very persuasive." Chinen told them, and Ryutaro hid his face in his free hand, the blush creeping out to his ears. Chinen put a kiss on the larger boy's cheek. "Aww, it was cute." He murmured.

"Wait...wait, are you two—?!" Inoo's question was met with silence, Chinen nodding meekly under Inoo's scrutinizing gaze. "You're dating?!"

"Well we haven't had a chance to go out on dates or anything, since I've been hiding, but...yeah. We're together." Chinen confirmed. He poked Ryutaro's cheek. "It's made sharing his room a lot of fun." Chinen tacked on at the end. Takaki choked on air.

"What do you—?!" His question was cut off by Hikaru and Yabu entering the room, giving Chinen smiles and nods, joining the posse on the floor. They had just sat down however, when there was a banging on the door. Everyone stilled, sharing confused glances. They weren't expecting anyone else.


	11. Chapter 11

"You're sure you weren't followed or something?" Hikaru asked Ryutaro. The kid nodded, pulling Chinen protectively closer to his body. There was a second fit of banging on the door, this time accompanied by a yell.

"Hello! It's Yuto! Please, please open the door! Can you hear me?!" Yamada's eyes flew to the door. What?! Yuto's knocking paused for a moment, and then again, he yelled. "Please! Is anyone there?!" Hikaru, furthest from the door, gestured to it.

"For god’s sake, let the man in!" Inoo unfolded his body and pulled himself to his feet, and as soon as the door was opened they could all hear Yuto's exclamations of relief and thanks, and Inoo waved him inside. Yuto nearly tripped over Chinen as soon as he made it through the door, and he apologized to the small man before nodding in greeting to everyone else. His eyes were puffy and bloodshot from crying, and he looked around, searching the room.

"Is Keito here? I need to talk to him. It's—it's very important." Yabu frowned, shaking his head.

"Keito resigned last night. He said he was going." Chinen piped up, looking confused.

"What happened with Keito?" Yuto fell onto a nearby bench, sullen.

"He's gone." He told Chinen. "He told me some...stuff...this morning. And I was angry and upset because he had been _lying_ to me for years. And. He told me he was going to go. At the time that sounded good to me, and I told him so, but I guess he must have packed his suitcase after I'd gone to bed last night because all of his things are gone, and he's gone, and that's not what I meant! I didn't want him to go _permanently,_ I just needed some time alone, you know? To think everything he told me over. And now that I have I need to speak to him. I have to tell him..." Yuto cut himself off, and his monologue was me with a confused silence. He was too vague.

"...okay?" Chinen still looked bewildered. Takaki gave the whole explanation thing a shot.

"So basically Keito's actually a yakuza prince of the underworld who ran away from his previous life to try and become a normal, law abiding citizen. His cover was blown yesterday however when a group of guys tried to rob us yesterday and he threatened them with a gun. Now he's given up and is willingly returning to his previous lifestyle to help his bodyguard or something. At least, that's what I understood out of yesterday." Chinen just sat there, blinking in disbelief.

"You're kidding." Yamada shook his head.

"Nope." He turned to Yuto. "So, Keito told you about everything this morning?" Yuto nodded.

"He did. He told me about his family, and he showed me his tattoos, and he explained to me why he had kept it a secret all the years we've been talking. And then..." Yuto took a deep gulp of air. "He told me that he loved me. He said that he loves me, and then he promised to leave. And then he left." His words were met with silence for a moment, and then Yabu whistled.

"Damn."

"I need to talk to him! He didn't give me a chance to tell him; to let him know that I love him too! He needs to know! I need to tell him that I don't care where he's from, he's more than my best friend and I don't want to give him up!" Yuto turned to Hikaru and Yabu. "Please, can you help me? He won't answer his phone, but I thought you might know some other way...I don't know who else to ask." Hikaru and Yabu shared a look.

"We could call Shoon..." Hikaru started. Yabu sighed.

"But—"

"Look at him!" Hikaru gestured to Yuto. Yabu glanced over at the distraught young man. He turned back to his partner.

"Oh my god you are such a romantic."

Hikaru grinned, leaning in for a kiss.

“That’s a yes.”

Yabu just grunted in response, and Hikaru nuzzled his partner under his chin, saying

"Thank you."

Yabu pulled a cell phone from his pocket, scrolling through the contacts and pressing call before putting it up to his ear. They all waited tensely for the other end to pick up. After two rings Yabu said

"Hello? Shoon? Hey, it's me. I was just wondering if Keito's gotten back to you yet." There was a pause, and then Yabu nodded. Keito was there. "Is there any chance we could talk to him? Yuto's here and—do you know about Yuto?" Another pause. "You do? Good. Well, he's here and he really wants to talk to Keito." Silence. "I understand that, but this is important. It's about love. He wants to tell him that he loves him." Yabu declared, getting frustrated. "Oh. I see. Okay. Well, thank you. Yes. Bye." He hung up, turning to the rest of them.

"Keito's not allowed to have any outside contact. He's being punished for running away, or something. I don't know what happened exactly, but Shoon said he was returned to his care." He looked up at Yuto. "I'm sorry." Yuto took a deep breath, shutting his eyes, and slouching backward deeper onto the bench he was resting on. Ryutaro meanwhile, stood, checking his phone for the time. He offered a hand out to Chinen, announcing

"It's getting late. We need to be getting home Yuri." Takaki immediately protested.

"No! Hold on a second. He's not going back with you! You're just a kid. He's coming back home with us." Chinen looked over at Takaki in surprise.

"No way! He's been staying with me for weeks, and it's been fine! There's no reason to change that now. Besides, what does my age have to do with anything?" Ryutaro argued.

"It's not right for you two to be sharing a room! You're too young to be living together." Takaki objected. This time, Inoo supplemented the argument.

"He'd be safer and better looked after with us. We took care of him for months before you did, we know what we're doing. We have most of his belongings and a bedroom still set up for him. He would have his own space and he wouldn't be stuck sharing a room. Him coming to live with us makes the most sense. We're the closest thing he has to family here." Ryutaro had one arm wrapped around Chinen's shoulders, and he looked down at his little boyfriend. They shared a look, and Ryu said

"You want to go with them." It wasn't really a question. Chinen nodded.

"This has been fun, and I still want to be with you Ryu-chan, but it would be really nice to go back home." Ryutaro sighed, murmuring

"I don't want you to go." Chinen nodded.

"I know." They hugged, and with that Ryutaro left on his own, Chinen leaving shortly after with Takaki and Inoo. Yamada stayed behind, figuring he would walk home with Yuto. The lanky guy hadn't moved from the bench, laying back on it and shutting his eyes, and once the rest of the maids had left he finally pulled himself to his feet and said

"Um, Yabu-san?" Both Hikaru and Yabu turned their attention to him. He pursed his lips, obviously thinking hard about what he was about to say. "Can I work here? Please?" They didn't even stop to consider his offer, Yabu immediately saying

"Sure." Hikaru nodding in agreement. Yuto smiled weakly at them.

"Thank you."

"Of course. How early can you start?" Hikaru asked, and Yuto cracked a small smile. They decided on that upcoming Thursday as a good day, and together Yamada and Yuto walked home. They walked in silence for the most part, Yuto looking somber, his eyes watery, and Yamada felt a bit self conscious walking with him. He knew Yuto was upset because of Keito, and he didn't really know what to say. Yuto had always presented such a positive outlook on every situation. But in the time Yamada had known him he had always had Keito by his side. They were a great fit, they seemed to understand each other and make each other so happy, and it really was such a shame that Keito was actually a gangster.

Yamada was just thinking about what he would do if someone important to him—Daiki was probably the closest thing he had to Yuto's relationship with Keito—turned out to be a yakuza member, when he heard his name being called. As if on cue Daiki ran out of their apartment building, his cell phone in his hand, and both Yuto and Yamada stopped, watching as he drew closer.

"Yama-chan! Yama-chan, Inoo he—" Daiki caught up with them, his chest heaving as he caught his breath. "—said you guys found Chinen!" Yamada smiled, nodding.

"Yeah, we were just talking with him like forty minutes ago." Yamada slung an arm around Daiki's shoulders, giving him a squeeze of affection. "I'll tell you all about it over dinner."

"Okay. What do you want to eat?" Daiki asked as they turned back toward their building, the three of them walking together. Yamada and Daiki bounced ideas back and forth, and Yuto just walked silently by their side, watching them discuss the meal. He had a small smile on his face, and Daiki couldn't help but mention it, leaning his head a bit to see around Yamada's body. "What're you grinning about Yuto? Did we miss something funny?" Yamada too looked over at their lanky neighbor, and Yuto just shook his head, his smile growing wider.

"No, it's just....you two are really cute together." They both just stared at him, a little confused. "You know...?" Yuto added, registering the blank looks. "As a couple." Yamada felt something swoop in his stomach at Yuto's suggestion, and Daiki was denying the assumption violently as soon as the words fell from Yuto's lips, as if accused of something, his face bright red.

"We're not! Yama-chan wouldn't date me, he doesn't like me like that. Besides, that's just silly, the two of us, a couple?! There's no way. Right, Yama-chan?"

"Uh...yeah. Right." Yamada nodded, not really processing what it was he was agreeing too. Yuto just shrugged.

"Sure." He said offhandedly. Daiki pouted a bit.

"You don't believe me do you?"

"Nope." Yuto announced. By this point they had reached their front doors. "Have a nice dinner." He said, giggling suggestively, leaving the two of them alone in the hall. After a moment of silence they too entered their own apartment, taking off their shoes by the door. A new tension had filled the space between them, making it hard to talk. Yuto was the second person in the past few months that had assumed they were a couple. He pulled his textbooks from his bag, sitting at the dining room table while Daiki cooked in the kitchen, watching as his best friend flitted about, chopping and mixing and stirring things. As he cooked Daiki hummed, a tune he often accused Yamada of humming himself unconsciously when doing menial tasks.

Yuto's assumption and his refusal to believe their rejection of that assumption, made him think about Daiki in a bit of a different way. What if they were dating? Why weren't they? They were best friends after all, they knew each other better than anyone else. And it wasn't as if Daiki was bad to look at or anything. In fact it was quite the opposite. Daiki was adorable, his little round head matching his tiny hands and feet. He had floppy hair that he often clipped up out of his face in these kinda girly barrettes that Yamada would tease him about sometimes, but would secretly use when he wasn't home. Plus Daiki was really kind, and funny, and he had this great smile that would light up his whole face, and he had a deep genuine laugh that always managed to make Yamada feel good. Plus Daiki smelled good. Not like anything special, but warm and comforting, and Yamada liked it.

This line of thought perpetuated itself throughout the following week, helped along by Yuto. Their neighbor was now constantly around, at work with Yamada nearly every day, and often joining them for dinner or simply studying or hanging out at their apartment instead of his own empty one. For the most part Yamada didn't mind, but occasionally Daiki would get short with the taller young man, tired of hosting. Yuto still treated their relationship like a romantic one, and after the first two weeks or so Yamada and Daiki just stopped rejecting the statement.

For the most part Yuto remained chipper, waking up way too early in the morning and being way too happy about it, but it was obvious in the way he would ask Hikaru and Yabu every morning when he got to work if they had heard anything at all about Keito that he wasn't over his old pen pal. Occasionally his smile would suddenly drop off of his face, and he would stare at the wall for a moment, a loneliness settling over him that was visible, like a blanket. And whenever Yamada found himself wishing that Yuto would just go home so that he could get some alone time with Daiki he would remember the way Yuto looked in those moments and any harsh words he had crawling up his throat would slither back into the hole inside of him where the spiteful, selfish fractal of his personality resided.


	12. Chapter 12

The cafe was lively. Both Takaki and Inoo were in much better moods now that Chinen was back, and they spent their breaks updating Yamada on how things were with the smaller man back in their home. Yuto was fitting in perfectly, his long legs and natural optimism making him very popular with the customers, and he soon became friends with the rest of the maids, his enthusiasm for life uplifting when he wasn't focusing on Keito's absence. Business was good, but rarely overwhelming, and between the four of them they rarely needed any assistance from Yabu, or Hikaru.

Ryutaro once more was coming by every day, now however, instead of staying he would get a cake to go, and he would meet Chinen at Inoo and Takaki's house. While Inoo seemed fine with this arrangement, Takaki would grumble about it like a father not able to accept that his child had a boyfriend. Which Yamada figured he essentially was. Unfortunately Takaki's problems—and admittedly, all of their problems—got much bigger than Chinen's new boyfriend about two weeks after their reunion with their petite friend. Yamada, Daiki, and Yuto were all eating dinner, sitting around Daiki and Yamada's little four person table and talking about their classes and exclaiming over the delicious spaghetti when all at once all three of their cell phones went off simultaneously.

"What the heck?" Daiki muttered, Yamada agreeing wholeheartedly with his bewildered statement, and they all reached for their phones. It was from Inoo.

_HELP! THE POLICE ARE HERE._ Yamada read, the words stark on his screen. Yamada's stomach dropped. It must have been a mass text because Yuto gasped, staring at his own phone, and Daiki cursed under his breath, standing up. Yamada too stood, understanding that they needed to go. Yuto stared at them for a moment.

"Where are you guys going?" He asked.

"Inoo and Takaki's place." Yamada told him, Daiki nodding as he put on his shoes. Yamada glanced over at his friend. "You've been there, right?" Daiki nodded.

"D'you think they've come for Chinen?" Yuto asked, glancing back down at his phone. It was Daiki that responded.

"Yeah." Yamada began lacing up his own shoes, and Yuto joined them by the door, grabbing his pair.

"Wait, I'm coming too." He said, throwing them on, and with that they left the apartment and went out into the night, anxious about what they were going to find once they reached their final destination.

The spring air was rather chilly, and they kept the pace at a hard jog, Yuto easily keeping up with Yamada and Daiki's short legs. They ran for about half an hour before up ahead there was flashing lights and the commotion of bodies, and they got to Takaki and Inoo's place just in time to see a police car pull away from the front of the house, and as it zipped past them Yamada caught a glimpse of Takaki in the back, looking very upset. Inoo was standing out in the front yard in an oversized t-shirt and sweatpants, his arms wrapped around a figure taller them himself, his face buried in the persons neck. As they drew closer Yamada could see who it was. It was Ryutaro, the teen looking awkward and upset, as if he was not really sure what to make of Inoo's embrace but was too frustrated with everything else to do anything about it. Yamada was flabbergasted. What was going on?

"Hey." Daiki put a hand on Inoo's shoulder. "We came as fast as we could." Inoo lifted his head from under Ryutaro's chin, his body quivering with tears. "What's going on? Did they get Chinen?" Daiki asked, and at his question Ryutaro's face contorted in a harsh, desperate sneer. Yamada felt his insides clench up in dread.

"Yes." Inoo muttered, and Yamada grabbed Daiki's hand, gripping it tight, and Daiki squeezed back, his other hand rubbing circles on Inoo's shoulder blades.

"What happened?" Daiki asked. Both Yuto and Yamada just stood next to him, letting him ask all the questions. Off in the distance Yamada caught sight of Hikaru and Yabu wandering up, going over to a police officer and asking him questions. As he watched them interact, Inoo explained.

"We were all about to have a late dinner when they showed up. It was supposed to be a good time for us to get to know Ryutaro-kun. Someone had tipped them off about Chinen. They searched the house, and Chii hid, but it didn't take long for them to find him." He sniffed, his nose runny from the crying. "Yuya wasn't going to give Chinen up without a fight, and he tried to keep them from taking him, but....he...he was arrested for obstructing justice, assault on a police officer, and kidnapping...or something." The last half of the sentence came out in a squeaky rush that was followed by some sobbing, Ryutaro moving to comfort the older man. Yamada swallowed some bile. This was awful. He didn't see how Takaki could get off well with those charges. Daiki squeezed his hand a bit harder, offering silent support, and Yamada was grateful.

"So where's Chinen now?" Yuto asked, and it was Ryu that answered him, looking up from the bundle in his arms that was Inoo.

"They took him away. They were acting like he had survived something terrible; like they were rescuing him from an awful fate, despite him all but kicking and screaming for them to let him go and leave him alone. They put him in a car right before you guys got here." He sounded immensely frustrated, his eyes wet with unshed tears, glinting in the lights of the remaining police cars.

Yabu and Hikaru finished talking with the police officers and joined the rest of them, and they offered to take everyone home, and after a few minutes of awkward discussion everyone piled into their car, the seven of them putting it over capacity, but to make space Yamada pulled Daiki into his lap, his housemate's scent and warmth familiar and comforting, and he rested his head between Daiki's shoulder blades throughout the ride, all of the drama leaving him feeling drained. Chinen's sudden removal was very upsetting, and he wanted to cry or hit something. But Inoo, poor poor Inoo was a wreck, tears streaming down his cheeks, and so he held himself together. When they got home however he buried himself in Daiki's arms, and his best friend just snuggled with him on the couch until he fell asleep. And just like that it seemed as soon as their cute little friend made his way back into their lives he was snatched away once more.

Over the course of the next two days reports of Chinen's discovery were all over the newspapers and television, Takaki's mugshot often accompanying articles, much to everyone's dismay. Luckily for Hikaru and Yabu at least, no one seemed to make the connection between Takaki's photo in the papers and Yu-chan who worked for them. Inoo was staying with Hikaru and Yabu in their apartment above the cafe, as Takaki had yet to be released from detainment and Inoo didn't want to stay in his own empty home. They all still went to work and school, but things felt a bit wrong with both Takaki and Chinen gone, and Keito having left them only a short time before.

On the third day however, Takaki strolled right into the cafe, looking a little disheveled but otherwise fine, wearing tattered jeans, a fitted tee, and his leather motorcycle jacket. Inoo burst into tears right there, fumbling the teacup he had been holding. Takaki scooped him up, lifting him off of his feet and clutching his boyfriend of seven years tightly to his body. Yamada watched the tearful reunion with a warm feeling in his chest, glad that while everything seemed to be going wrong this one thing apparently was working out. Yuto had a curious question once Takaki and Inoo pulled away from each other, their tall friend's head cocked in confusion.

"Not that I'm not happy or anything, but how are you out?" He asked Takaki, and the older man grinned, one hand wrapped around Inoo's slim waist.

"It was Keito." He announced, and Yuto visibly got more alert at the mention of his unrequited love's name.

"Did you see him?!" Yuto asked. Takaki shook his head.

"No. The detectives that had me detained came by and just let me out. They said all of my charges had been dropped, courtesy of the Okamoto Group. I guess Keito pulled some strings when he heard about me."

"Oh." Yuto's shoulders visibly slumped when he realized that Keito was in fact nowhere near the vicinity of himself, and that Takaki actually didn't know anything about his former roommate's well being. Inoo however, was all smiles.

"Thank goodness for Keito, right baby?" He said, leaning into Takaki's side, as close as he could get himself. Takaki nodded, one hand gently running through Inoo's hair. After another minute or so, Takaki went into the back to talk with Yabu and Hikaru, and it was determined that he would, of course, continue his work at Tea & Lace. That night Inoo finally went back home, leaving with his boyfriend. Yamada and Yuto walked together to their apartment building, Yamada listening obligingly as Yuto once again explained why Keito was the perfect human being, before saying goodnight to his neighbor in the hall, exhausted and tired of Yuto's heartbroken whining, regardless of how justified it was.

He opened his apartment door, the words 'I'm home' dying on his lips, and he stopped in the doorway, taking it all in in surprise. The place had been decorated, crepe paper hanging from the ceiling tastefully, balloons with colorful ribbons tied to chairs and surrounding doorways. And in the middle of it all was Daiki, wearing a cheap cardboard party hat perched crookedly on top of his head, a huge, precious grin taking up as much of his face as was physically possible, as he said

"Happy birthday, Yama-chan!" He pulled on a little popper, confetti flying, and Yamada felt himself smiling. It was his _birthday._ He'd completely forgotten. How on earth had he managed to forget? He slipped off his shoes and Daiki dragged him into the apartment, giving him a party hat.

"I have dinner." His friend was saying. "And then I didn't know if you'd want to have people over or not, so I figured we could decide that after you've eaten. I tried to get your family to come down and visit, but they couldn't. They said they were going to call though. In case you did want to invite people I got some alcohol...I don't remember what I got, but it's on top of the fridge. But I also rented that new movie you've been saying you wanted to see." He paused, as Yamada fell into his seat at the table. "Oh! And your present is still in my room. One second, I'll go get it!" Daiki flitted through the living room, a bundle of energy, and he quickly returns with a small package, poorly wrapped with tape in weird places. He must have done it himself. He placed it on the coffee table and said

"You can open it later." Yamada just nodded, overwhelmed by Daiki's thoughtfulness. His roommate whisked past him into the kitchen, coming back after a moment with their meals, setting Yamada's down in front of him. It was shrimp and rice and eggs and beef and vegetables and some sort of soup, and it looked amazing. Daiki sat in his regular seat at the table, and he gestured for Yamada to start eating. Stomach buzzing in anticipation, he took a bite. It was delicious. It was perfect.

Daiki watched him chew for a moment, gauging his reaction, and once he could tell that his food had gone over well he too began eating. The table grew unusually silent, and Yamada tried to find some way to express just how grateful he was for all of this. Daiki had done so much for him, had prepared him an amazing meal, and bought him a present, and decorated just for him.

He had been so amazingly thoughtful. He knew Yamada would be starving when he got home, and he had given Yamada the option of having guests over, that way if Yamada wanted his birthday to be a big celebration it could be, but if he just wanted to relax that too would be okay. He had even called Yamada's family to try and get them to come and see him for his birthday. Daiki was amazing. What had Yamada ever done to deserve this? To deserve to know Daiki?

He's crying before he knows that it's happening. He's crying into his rice, overwhelmed with happiness and love, and he blinks furiously, trying to hold back the tears. Daiki puts a hand on his shoulder, looking concerned.

"Yama-chan, is the food bad? I'm sorry. If you don't want too, we don't have to celebrate. I didn't mean to upset you, I just wanted to make you happy. You should be happy on your birthday." Yamada's deathly embarrassed but he reaches out for Daiki, pulling him to himself in a sudden hug, hiding his face in Daiki's shoulder as he tries to get his stupid tears under control. Daiki hugs him back, still trying to piece together Yamada's opinion, but he squeezes him tight. Finally Yamada gets out a croaky

"It's perfect." He pulls his face out of the crook where Daiki's shoulder and neck meet, and he laughs a bit at his own ridiculously dramatic reaction; trying to keep the tears from spilling back down his cheeks. "It's amazing Daiki." He smiled, wiping his eyes, and Daiki smiled back, his arms still wrapped loosely around Yamada's lower back, his full lips upturned pleasantly and he nodded.

"Good." They stood there for a moment, Yamada still trying to calm himself down, taking deep breaths and blinking away unshed tears. Daiki began tentatively listing a few people from school and work that he had thought Yamada may have wanted to invite over, and Yamada found himself telling Daiki not to worry about it. _I don't need anyone else, as long as I have you._ The sentence nearly slips past his lips, but he catches it right before he speaks it, tucking it away. Where had that thought come from? It was true though. As long as Daiki was with him, he would be okay. Because he didn't want to live without Daiki. Because he loved Daiki.

He loved Daiki. The realization slams into him so hard that for a moment he forgets how to breathe, his chest painfully tight, mind numb but for that one phrase. And suddenly it's as if everything he knew about his life was wrong, because he hadn't known. He hadn't known that he loved Daiki. Nothing could compare to this. The way it felt just to look at him, and see him smiling, meeting his gaze with his big brown eyes, twinkling with unspoken measures of trust and happiness. How had he never noticed it before? It was in everything he did, the way he lived, he thought, he spoke. It was in the way that they were standing now, arms still wrapped around each other loosely, comfortable with the close contact, small hands wrapped in the backs of each other’s shirts.

Everyone else seemed to have known. Keito had known. Yuto had persisted in informing him of his awareness of it. The feelings were so obviously there; and they probably had been for a long time. Years even.

"Yama-chan, let's eat." Daiki's words pull him out of his own thoughts, and he realizes that they've been standing there for an abnormally long time. Daiki is looking over at him, waiting for him to consent to his suggestion, and Yamada nods.

"Yeah." They sit back down and the evening continues, and they talk and laugh and have cake and watch that movie Daiki had rented, and it's all pretty normal for them, but somehow it's special. Somehow everything is_ better,_ and Yamada thinks that it's the best he has ever felt in his life. Just spending the evening with Daiki.

Eventually Daiki insists that he open his present. It's a bracelet he had seen in his favorite store months ago, one that he'd commented on, but living as a poor college student he had never thought he would ever own. It's perfect, but Yamada can't help but feel that his sudden realization is the best thing he had received today, because now he has Daiki, his love for Daiki filling his chest and making him feel more content and yet more alive than he knew was possible. This was by far his best birthday ever.


	13. Chapter 13

The next few weeks are spent very quietly. Despite Yamada's sudden realization of love, he barely sees Daiki aside from their shared dinners. Both he and Daiki have their final exams coming up, the pressure of it all of a sudden slamming them hard. Yamada still has work, but with Takaki back everything settles into a normal routine after only a few days. Because of their finals Daiki no longer visits Yamada at work, instead taking the time to sit at home or in the campus library, his textbooks and notes sprawled around him. Yamada misses him but he understands, and every evening he rushes home to check in on Daiki, eager to spend what little free time they do have with him. His coworkers however, seem concerned by the sudden lack of Daiki in the afternoons.

"Yama-chan, is everything okay?" Yabu asks him one evening, after they had closed. Yamada paused in the middle of changing out of his work outfit, bewildered.

"Um...yeah. Why?" He didn't think he'd been acting as of anything was wrong...had he?

"Daiki hasn't been by in a while. I was just worried that you two were having a fight. I know that sometimes it can be tough, but if you ever need to talk about your relationship troubles Hikaru and I will—" Mortified, Yamada cut him off.

"Yabu-kun, we don't—there's not—I mean..." He could feel his face growing red. "Daiki's not my boyfriend." Yabu stared at him for a moment.

"You're kidding." Yamada shook his head, pushing his glasses up his nose a bit in embarrassment.

"We're just roommates. I mean, we're friends, but...that's all." Yabu sighed, nodding in understanding.

"I see. That's too bad. You two would be cute." Was all the older man said, before leaving Yamada to hang up his skirt in peace. Yamada just watched him leave, one thought crossing his mind. Did everyone think Daiki was his boyfriend? He blushed a bit at the notion. That would be ideal; being Daiki's boyfriend. Being able to be open about his love for Daiki would be fantastic; especially if that love was reciprocated. Daiki had such full lips; he probably was a great kisser. Yamada hid his face in his hands, embarrassed. He wasn't used to having thoughts like that; not about someone he knew so well. Not about someone he lived with.

In the next week Yamada barely had time for any romantic thoughts, all of his focus on his finals. He studied late into the night, often falling asleep with his head resting on a book, still open for use. He barely ate, only doing so when Daiki would shove a meal in front of him, reminding him that he needed food to simply stay alive. In those moments Yamada always felt the words, a confession of love bubbling up his throat; and Daiki would always grin fondly at him, unaware of Yamada's feelings, before returning to his own textbooks.

Finally, finally, the tests were taken and one way or another, they were free. Daiki and Yamada got together with Yuto and Inoo—who also had had the pressure of finals week—and went out to eat in celebration, staying out way too late and eating way too much, simply because they could. They had a break between semesters, a good six weeks or so, and Yamada was very excited about all of the newly freed time he would have. It was a deserved break. They all chattered on about what they were going to do with their vacation, declaring preposterous ideas just to hear each other giggle, and after saying their goodbyes to Inoo the three of them that remained kept this up all the way back to their apartment complex. Yamada was jokingly announcing that he would use his free time to explore the pyramids of Egypt when they rounded the corner to their hallway and they all froze, staring down the hall.

There was a person sitting there, his back lying up against the spans of wall between the door to Yuto's apartment and Daiki and Yamada's own door. Next to him on the floor was a large suitcase, and he had a cap on, his head hung, and he appeared to be sleeping. That wasn't the most shocking part however. The most shocking part was that it was—of all people—Chinen.

They all fell silent, and after sharing confused looks they crept closer to Chinen, the three of them all standing around him, waiting for someone to make the first move. Yuto eventually took it upon himself to wake Chinen, the lanky young man crouching down to be on Chinen's level and gently shaking his shoulder. Their petite ex-coworker slowly opened his eyes, blinking a few times in the too bright artificial light of the hallway before saying groggily

"Yuto-kun, do you still have a spare room?" Yamada blinked in confusion.

"Um...yeah." Yuto too didn't seem to know what to make of this turn of events. "Chinen, what's going on? How long have you been sitting out here?" Chinen shrugged, pulling a cell phone out of his pocket and checking the time.

"Like...five hours. I just wanted to surprise you all." He yawned, the action taking up most of his tiny face. "I'm enrolled at school with you guys. Next semester I get to start my life as a college student. Surprise!" What?

"How—?" Yamada started to ask, but Daiki cut him off, offering Chinen a hand and pulling him to his feet.

"Let's go inside. We can discuss this in one of our apartments, not out here in the hall. It's after midnight." Right. That was the logical thing to do. Yuto nodded, grabbing Chinen's suitcase and unlocking his door, lugging it inside, everyone else following after him. Yuto took the suitcase into the living room, and Yamada looked around his apartment. It looked almost exactly the way it had before Keito had left. Yuto had even kept the scrolls Keito had made up on the walls, something Yamada found to be a bit depressing. Yuto obviously wasn't moving on.

Chinen was seated at the table, a steaming bowl of rice put in front of him in moments, the rest of them joining him at the table, watching as he ate. He obviously hadn't had dinner, because he scarfed the food down in minutes; not stopping until his bowl was empty. Once he had eaten, Yuto finally said

"Chinen, what's going on? We thought you went back to your parents’ house." The little boy pouted a bit, thinking over his answer.

"I did. But now I'm back!" Yamada didn't really know what to make of that.

"How? You didn't run away again did you?!" Chinen smirked at his query, shaking his head.

"Of course not. Don't be stupid." He said, and Yamada frowned at the smaller guy's insult. Daiki put a comforting hand on his shoulder, giving Chinen a reproachful look. But Chinen wasn't finished. "It took me a while, but I negotiated with my parents. I'm allowed to go to university, and in exchange I won't run away or fight having to take over my dad's company. So now I'm here!" They all stared at him for a moment.

"Seriously?!" Yuto asked. Chinen nodded.

"It took some convincing, but ultimately my parents caved in. I came as soon as I could. I haven't told anyone I was coming; I wanted to surprise you guys!" He focused his attention on Yuto. "Yuto-kun, I was thinking, if you wouldn't mind, that maybe I could live with you? That way I'm close to the campus. I mean, I could help with expenses, and I don't have a lot of stuff, and I even learned how to do chores when I stayed with Yuyan and Inoo. Please?" He paused, a something obviously occurring to him. "Unless Keito's back?" He asked curiously. Yuto winced at the mention of Keito, sighing and shaking his head.

"No. I haven't heard from him." Chinen looked guilty for bringing it up.

"Oh."

"You're welcome to stay here though, Chii." Yuto declared. "No one's using that room anyway. Besides, it'll be nice having a roommate." The shock of Chinen's reappearance was wearing off now, and Yamada found his mind wandering from the conversation at hand, and he began drifting in and out of sleep right there at the table. His eyes wearily caught on the clock. It was after one in the morning. He had to work tomorrow; why was he up this late? What had they been thinking, staying out for so long? It had seemed fun at the time, but now, as he dozed off in Yuto's apartment for the second time, it simply seemed stupid.

The other three continued to talk, catching Chinen up on what had been happening since he had left and getting the living arrangement all straightened out. Yamada wasn't listening. He wouldn't even consider himself to be fully awake. But within the last twenty minutes he must have fallen completely asleep, because he had no recollection of anything happening between 1:52 and 2:17. He just knew that when he looked back up at the clock time had inexplicably jumped forward, and everyone was standing, Daiki gently pulling him to his feet. Daiki was the best, he thought blearily, and he leaned into Daiki's chest, burying his nose in Daiki's shoulder, already drifting back off to sleep. His roommate just chuckled lowly, rubbing his back for a moment before shuffling the two of them out of Yuto's apartment and into their own, calling back good nights to their two friends.

Daiki tried to get Yamada to go to bed, but Yamada clung to him, not wanting to sleep alone, wanting to curl up with Daiki, to cuddle and wake up in the morning to the scent of Daiki's shampoo. He mumbled something to that effect, tugging on Daiki's shirt, and they crashed on the couch, both too weary to move or protest. And Yamada felt Daiki wrap an arm around him to keep him from falling off the edge before sleep finally overtook him. In the long run, today had been a good day.

The next morning Yamada is woken by a pounding on their front door.

"Yama-chan? Yama-chan, it's time to go to work!" Yuto's voice called out through the door, and Yamada bolted up, panic filling him, and he flailed around for a moment, trying to figure out how to untangle himself from Daiki and get off of the couch. Instead he just managed to fall, hitting his shoulder on the coffee table on the way to the floor. He groaned, cursing to himself, and he pulled himself off of the floor, scrambling over to the door. Daiki meanwhile was groaning, his face all scrunched up as he rolled over, the arm that had been wrapped around Yamada before now hanging off of the edge of the couch, his fingertips just barely brushing the floor. Yamada ran a hand through his hair, pulling the door open.

"Good morning!" Yuto's greeting was way too damn chipper, Yamada decided.

"Good morning!" Chinen popped out from behind the tall young man, sounding even more happy, and Yamada had half a mind to tell the two of them off for being overly joyful at this ungodly hour. Daiki's grumbling behind him seeming to agree with his train of thought. Yamada however, chose to say nothing, letting their neighbors in.

"Yama-chan, we have to leave for work in ten minutes, if we're going to be there on time...will you be ready?" Yuto asked, stepping across the threshold. Oh crap. _Work._ He was never going out again, he decided.

"Yeah, just—hold on." Yamada practically ran back to his bedroom, throwing on the first clean outfit he could find and zipping into the bathroom for basic self hygiene. The whole process took him eight minutes. _Success._ He returned to the front room to find Daiki awake and sitting around their table with the neighbors, his eyelids still hanging lower than usual as he tried to wake up, his hair all in his face. He looked adorable. Yamada swept in behind him, giving him a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek, unable to help himself, and Daiki—still half asleep—grinned. Yuto shook his head in exasperation.

"Okay you lovebirds, can we go to work?"

"Shut up." Daiki mumbled, and Yamada sighed.

"Yeah. Let's go." The three of them all herded out the door, and out into the world, the summer sun bright, the air hot. Yamada fell into step between Yuto and Chinen, yawning a bit before asking "Chii, why're you coming?" Chinen just shrugged.

"What else am I supposed to do? Besides, I've missed everyone. And I need to see Ryu-chan."

"You didn't tell your boyfriend that you were back?" Yuto asked in surprise. Chinen shook his head.

"I wanted to surprise everyone. Especially Ryu." Yuto fell silent for a moment, considering that.

“I guess that would be nice. For him. Or whatever.” Chinen huffed.

“Don’t try to tell me that if Keito didn’t just show up one day that you wouldn’t like…explode out of excitement. Everyone knows you would.” Yuto blushed a bit at that.

They kept this up all the way to work, the three of them bursting in the back door together, so wrapped up in their conversation that they had completely forgotten about surprising their coworkers with Chinen’s return. Even Chinen just continued talking, all of them unaware for a few moments of the looks of complete shock on everyone else’s faces. That was until Yabu rounded the corner and actually yelled in surprise, breaking everyone out of their stupor, or their conversation, and suddenly everyone was hugging and exclaiming, and—in Takaki and Inoo’s cases—crying, and laughing. Chinen explained and re-explained everything that had happened with him since he had been taken away by the police, and the whole thing was very exciting, and Yamada could see everyone relaxing, because this time no one was in hiding. No one could take their cute little companion away. Finally, he was there to stay.

The whole reunion took a while, and in consequence they opened up nearly forty-five minutes late. But, to everyone’s delight, Yabu pulled Chinen’s maid outfit from a storage bin in his office, and the petite man resumed work, looking ridiculously happy about the whole thing. Hyped up on endorphins, the day flew by in a blur of smiles, laughter, and cake. Daiki dropped by around lunchtime, finally looking awake, and his presence just enhanced Yamada’s good mood, and before he knew it there was only thirty minutes left before they closed for the day. It was then however, that their most important customer walked through the door. Inoo spotted him through the glass, right before he entered, and before Ryutaro got a chance to see Chinen the small young man was shoved behind the counter and hidden from view.

“Ryutaro-kun! Hello! Here, let me get you a seat.” Takaki called, and he led Ryutaro away from the counter, sitting him down so that he couldn’t see Chinen when the tiny maid finally pulled himself to his full stature. “The usual?” Takaki asked, and once Ryutaro nodded he left, Chinen preparing his tray with a cup of tea and a small cake, and they all watched as he took a deep breath and walked over. Ryutaro was looking down at his cell phone, completely unaware of the surprise he was about to get.

“Thank you for waiting, master.” Chinen said, placing the tray gently on the table, and the high school kid’s head whipped up, his eyes wide. Chinen smiled, looking down at him, and Ryutaro stood, scooping his boyfriend up in his arms, lifting Chinen off of the ground.

“You little shit!” Ryutaro exclaimed, squeezing Chinen tight. Chinen just giggled, hugging him back. Yamada laughed, sharing in the happiness that everyone felt. Finally, they all were back together. Finally everything was good. When he caught Yuto watching the two younger guys, his expression a bit sad, he realized that they weren’t. They were still missing one more. They were still missing Keito.


	14. Chapter 14

The next few weeks were near perfect. Chinen settled into Yuto’s apartment as if it had been made for him. Yamada sees all of his coworkers and neighbors a lot more frequently now. Nearly every night they all get together at someone’s house. Takaki and Inoo come by to see Daiki and Chinen a lot, and Ryutaro dropped by unannounced on a whim to see his precious boyfriend. Without school, Yamada and Daiki spend their time together cooking and going to the movies and eating ice cream and sleeping in late. Yamada still hasn’t told Daiki how he feels, but he figures that as long as they can live this way, he’ll be fine without confessing anything.

It’s the last week of their vacation, and its still morning when the last pieces of the puzzle fall into place. Yamada is at work, wiping down a table after a customer had left, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose when he sees it. A black car pulls up in front of the café. Where had he seen that car before? It looked so familiar. It only takes a moment before he realizes why he recognized the vehicle, and he gasps. _No way._ There was no way. He stands there frozen, as Yabu and Hikaru’s friend—what was his name again? Shoon! That’s right—climbs out of the driver’s seat, going around the side of the car and opening the back door. He turns and does a scan of the café, meeting his friends’ eyes. Was everyone else seeing this? They all had their eyes glued on the car, all except Yuto, the lanky young man's back turned. That wasn't right. Yuto needed to see this. Finally, he has the presence of mind to yell

“Yuto!” His friend had been rearranging the cakes in the glass display counter, his back turned, and he spun around, his skirt poufing out around him, confused.

“What is it Yama-“ The question dies on his lips when the car’s passenger steps out onto the pavement. Yuto freezes there, his eyes wider than Yamada had ever seen them. It’s Keito. It’s Keito, but he looks different, more adult, more _powerful_ than Yamada had ever seen him. He has a perfectly tailored black suit on, nice shiny black dress shoes hiding his feet and expensive sunglasses covering his face, and Shoon bows low, only raising his head once Keito gestures for him to relax. They all just stand there froze in their respective locations, too stunned to do anything, as Keito enters the café.

Keito pulls his sunglasses off, and underneath them he looks a little nervous, a little bit shy, and it’s a relief to see the person—the Keito—Yamada knew underneath the blatantly, unabashedly yakuza exterior. Keito’s eyes locked onto Yuto, and he looked at the tall lanky boy with such passion, such care that it made Yamada want to look away, for fear of intruding on something private.

“Yuto.” Keito murmured, and Yamada was surprised to see that Yuto still hadn’t moved. He was just standing there, looking at Keito, tears running down his cheeks, his face red, hot with emotion. Keito took a small step, obviously hesitant about closing the gap. “I wanted to see you.” Keito continued. “I wanted to show you…this.” He gestured to himself, to his clothes. “I wanted to be honest with you. Because this…well…this is me. This is who I am.” He paused. “And I understand if you can’t accept that, and I understand if you can’t accept me, and I’m sorry. I’m_ so sorry_ for hiding this from you, and for befriending you under false pretenses, and for asking so much of you.” He paused, taking a deep shuddering breath, his chest heaving.

“But I just wanted to tell you that everything I said the last time we spoke was true. I love you Yuto, with all my heart and soul. Every new day with you was the new best day of my life, and I’m sorry for being this way, and I’m sorry for loving you, because you deserve better than me. You deserve the whole world, and I know I will never be good enough, but…” Keito was biting his lip now, and he pulled his gaze up from where it had slowly trailed down to the floor. “But I want to try. I will do anything for you, Yuto. I will work every day to make you as happy as you’ve made me, if you’d be willing…to try and love me too.”

Yuto finally broke, and he covered the distance between himself and Keito in two quick strides, his hands cupping Keito’s face, and he crashed their lips together, kissing Keito passionately. After a few moments they pulled apart, chests heaving, and Yuto looks into Keito’s eyes, tears still flowing freely down his cheeks, and he says

“I do love you. I always did.” He grinned, blinking the tears away. “You’ve always been enough for me Keito.” There was a pause, and then Inoo let out a whoop, and both boys blushed, looking around as if realizing for the first time that they weren’t alone. Wanting to give them space, and overwhelmed with emotions of his own, Yamada went into the back, pulling his phone out of his apron pocket. He had to tell Daiki about this. He dialed, holding the phone up to his ear, and Daiki picked up almost immediately.

“Daiki?”

“Hey Yama-chan. Aren’t you at work?” Daiki sounded a little confused. Yamada smiled, a bit embarrassed.

“Yeah. I am, I just…I had to tell you something.”

“Okay. What’s up?” Daiki asked, and Yamada opened his mouth to tell him about how Keito had shown up, looking so different than he had when he had left. He was going to tell him that Keito was there, now, and tell him all about how he had poured his heart out at Yuto’s feet. He meant to tell him about how Yuto had kissed Keito—finally—in front of everyone. Instead, what came out was

“I love you.” _ABORT. ABORT_. He froze, inhaling a breath so sharp that he literally choked on it. There was silence on the other end, and before Daiki could respond he quickly hung up, his heart pounding in his chest, beating a tattoo on the inside of his ribcage. Oh no. Oh crap. What was he going to do?! He sat there in the changing room, clutching his phone, cursing his own stupidity. He had ruined everything. Why? Why did it have to happen now? Why did it have to happen at all?! His phone started ringing, and he looked down at the screen. It was Daiki again. There was a pit of dread in his stomach, and he rejected the call, feeling nauseous. He wasn’t ready to face Daiki. He didn’t want to see the apologetic look on Daiki’s face. He wasn’t ready for the awkward silences and the sudden halt on physical contact. He didn’t want to lose Daiki. He wasn’t ready for that. He’d never be ready for that.

It was then that Hikaru peeked his head around the corner, spotting Yamada and waving for him to come.

“Hey, we’re still open—technically —you know. Don’t worry, no one’s kissing. Just, come on back out here.” Yamada nodded, pulling himself to his feet and adjusting his skirt. Hikaru smiled, slinging an arm around his shoulder in a friendly way and dragging him out into the café. Yamada felt his phone vibrating again, undoubtedly Daiki trying to reach him, but he had an excuse now. He was working. He ignored it. And the call after that and the seven after that one. The rest of the day passed by too slow, drudging on, his stomach nauseous, and yet his shift was over too quickly, and he found himself on his way home, walking as slow as he possibly could, alone in the dusk, knowing that Daiki would be there waiting for him when he got home, and dreading the conversation they would have to have. Yet somehow he found himself standing in front of their apartment, and after a few deep breaths he pushed open the door, letting himself in.

He was met with the smell of a delicious meal cooking, the radio in the kitchen playing some pop song from some boy band Daiki liked. He took off his shoes, and as he did he could hear Daiki in the kitchen, his little feet padding around on the tile as he cooked. He was humming. Yamada’s heart clenched up a bit at how cute that was—at how cute Daiki was—and he slipped on his house shoes, walking out into their little dining area. Daiki wasn’t facing him; he was at the stove, unaware that Yamada was back. When he did turn around he jumped, eyes wide in surprise.

“Yama-chan, you nearly gave me a heart attack!” He declared, one hand on his chest. Yamada was embarrassed. Wholly embarrassed just to be standing there in front of Daiki, and once Daiki’s shock had worn off, the tension between them took the forefront. It was palpable, uncomfortable, and Daiki flicked off the radio, wiping his hands on his apron and saying “I wanna talk.” Yamada could already feel the tears coming on.

“Yeah.”He managed to force the word out, despite his dread. Daiki joined him in the dining room, and they stood facing each other, silent for a moment, before Daiki said

“You love me?” His face was blank, and Yamada felt absolutely humiliated. This was worse than anything he had ever imagined. But he couldn’t lie to Daiki. He never lied to Daiki.

“Yes.” Daiki stared at him for a moment, blinking and tilting his head the way he did when he thought about something seriously. Yamada looked away, instead looking up at the ceiling, trying to suck the tears he felt coming on back into the depths of his eye sockets.

“I’m going to kiss you now.” Daiki declared, and Yamada started, taken completely by surprise. But then Daiki _was_ kissing him, his full pink lips pressed against Yamada’s own, one hand on Yamada’s shoulder to steady him. Yamada was so shocked that he just stood there, and Daiki pulled back, looking a little bit concerned. “Yama-chan?” He frowned. “I thought this would be the right thing to do.” He sighed. “Maybe that was too fast, huh? I guess I got impatient.” That last word stuck with him, and Yamada searched Daiki's face.

“Impatient?” Yamada couldn’t help but ask, hope budding in the midst of all of the confusion. Daiki nodded.

“Yeah. I mean, I’ve been wanting to do that forever. When you confessed over the phone, I guess I just had kinda hoped…” He sighed. “Look. I love you. I’ve always loved you, Yama-chan.” Yamada feels the rush before he can comprehend it.

“You…you love me?” He heard himself asking. Daiki smiled at him, big and bright and warm.

“Of course. It’s always been you, Ryosuke.” And then they were kissing again, and then they were just smiling, and laughing, because they couldn’t help it. They couldn’t help how happy they were. And Daiki took Yamada’s hand, and he said

“I love you.” Yamada squeezed it tightly, intertwining their fingers, and he cooed back

“I love you too.”


End file.
